


Bloodbound

by RinTheHufflepuff



Category: Critical Role (Web Series), The Mighty Nein - Fandom
Genre: Action/Adventure, Also guest stars, Alternate Universe - Siblings, Canon-Typical Violence, Canon-Typical grade humor, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Especially Molly, Eventual Romance, Fluff, I do what I can to include side characters, It's the mighty nein, Molly can wear whatever he wants because he is our god, Multi, Plot Twists, Sibling Bullshit, The gods are a thing TM, all the hijinks, but things happen, references to Vox Machina, there's drinking and drugs because it's what they do
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-20
Updated: 2019-08-11
Packaged: 2019-11-01 08:41:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 7
Words: 56,750
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17864084
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RinTheHufflepuff/pseuds/RinTheHufflepuff
Summary: Fayde Widogast, sorcerer, ex-carnie, criminal extraordinaire, and Caleb Widogast's little sister. Haunted by her brother's past and desperate for a better future, she quickly becomes fascinated with Mollymauk Tealeaf when he bursts into the Nestled Nook Inn looking for people to see the carnival. Almost instantly, a bond is formed between the two, but how far will it stretch?





	1. New Friends

**Author's Note:**

> Oh ho ho, it's time to figure out how this site works and not just read other people's works! Also, thank you to the amazing people who post transcripts of the full episodes because, without you, I would be lost.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh ho ho, it's time to see how this site works and not just read other people's fics! Also, a huge thank you to the amazing people who post transcripts of the full episodes because, without you, I would be lost. Also, also, if y'all are using Chrome I would suggest the Hover Zoom and HTTPS Everywhere extensions because I sometimes like to include links but also because they are just really useful extensions.

        It was far too early to be awake, let alone wandering the streets, but here I was, sore and tired from the night before, making my way along the sleepy roads of Trostenwald to the small inn I was supposed to have slept in.  Granted, when there is a job to be done sleep tends to fall to the wayside.  It didn’t help that yesterday was a clusterfuck and that my brother had lost nearly all the money he had on him making last night’s job even more important.  Still, at least he and our companion, Nott, were safe.  The sun was barely peeking above the horizon when I crept through the doors of the Nestled Nook Inn where we had decided to stay.  Yorda, the kindly keeper of the inn, was already behind the bar though it seemed she had only just awoken

        “Good-mornin' deary,” she yawned.  “I’ve got some water heated up in the washroom for you like you asked yesterday.  Rough night?”

        “Not any rougher than I’m used to,” I smiled, fishing a gold piece out of my purse and setting it on the counter.  “Thank you for the water, I’ll fill it up when I’m done so it’ll be clean.”

        “Oh you don’t have teh do that,” she frowned.

        "It’s only polite.”  Yorda did not argue her point any further, likely too tired to really care.  

        I did my best to be quiet in the washroom while I stripped and cleaned my wounds and hair of dried blood and dirt from the night before, but I ached and the water was wonderfully warm and soothing despite the harsh sting it made when I flushed some of the deeper wounds.  There wasn’t much I could do for my clothes besides filtering what little clean water remained through the bloodied patches.  Hopefully, Yorda had some sewing supplies she would let me borrow to fix the tear in my shirt where I had been stabbed since I hadn’t quite gotten the hang of using any sort of mending cantrip.  Once I was sure there was no blood anywhere on me or my clothes, I wound a bandage around the gash in my side and gingerly pulled on my clothes, exiting the washroom only once I was certain I had everything I had entered with.  Living with a goblin had made me more cautious when it came to keeping track of my belongings.

        By the time I finished washing, discarded the bloody water, and refilled the bucket at the well and brought it back to the inn, the sun was up.  The mouth-watering scent of cooked meats and fried eggs was pouring out from the kitchen accompanied by the sweater smell of baking bread.  Caleb and Nott weren’t downstairs yet, but Caleb had been sleeping for such a long time I was sure they would creep down from our room at any moment.  It is just early enough that there are only a few people at the inn so far.  I had managed to snag a decent table close to the front of the main room where I could have my back to the wall and still be close to the door.  Soon enough though, the air begins bustling with townsfolk and all manner of travelers preparing to take on the day’s responsibilities.  With the morning in full swing and patrons looking for breakfast, Yorda is rushing around behind the bar while Adelaine, the red-headed barmaid rushes from table to table trying to take care of all the patrons in a timely manner.  In one of the corners, two disheveled musicians are working for tips, but their lack of enthusiasm and the bustle of the morning has so far left them empty-handed.  By this point I had finished the breakfast I had ordered, Yorda had insisted on taking a silver off because I’d run and refreshed the wash water, and my mug of coffee was half-finished.

        “[You’ve](https://i.pinimg.com/564x/6f/46/34/6f46344fa378c5cf1c43d2024fff20bc.jpg?b=t) already eaten?”  I looked up to meet the sunken, blue eyes of my [brother](https://i.pinimg.com/564x/9c/e0/90/9ce090ff1f9d566b915be34d54cab2be.jpg?b=t) as he took the seat across from me, [Nott](https://i.pinimg.com/564x/fb/79/f4/fb79f40683c8a5cc21f21cdc34b50d07.jpg?b=t) sitting between us. “You were not in the room when I woke up.”

        “Ja, I wanted to get a good table before the morning rush,” I shrugged.  “As you can see, it was a great idea.”  Caleb seemed to accept this as an appropriate answer and surveyed the chaos around us while Nott gave me a sharp look.  She likely noticed I had never come back the night before.  Thankfully I am spared from any questions she might have thrown at me when Adelaine bustles up to the table, shoving her wild hair into a not at the back of her head.

        “I’m terribly sorry. What can I get you?”

        “You know, meat if you have it, but if you don’t, that’s okay, too. Potatoes, or bacon if it’s on the menu, but really anything–” Nott rambles off, keeping her gaze carefully downward.

        “I can get you all three, it’s fine. What you want?”  Caleb freezes for an instant before replying.

        “The same.  And a Trost for each of us, please.”

        “For breakfast? I like you,” the barmaid laughed.  “All right, three Trosts and a bunch of meats. Be right back.”

        “Two Trosts,” I correct.  “I like to drink this early.”

        “Got it, more coffee?”

        "Ah, ja, that would be appreciated.”  With a smile and bob of her head, Adelaine dashes off to the kitchen to snag the order before she can lose it.

        “Yes, I need books, that’s true, but did you find drink yesterday,”  Caleb questions Nott, apparently continuing a conversation they had been having upstairs.

        “I have a little left in my flask,” Nott frowns.

        “How much?”

        “Just, just a couple swigs,” the goblin sighs.

        “So that is on the to-do list too then,” Caleb nodded, making a mental list of what he wanted to get done in this town before scurrying back into the woods.

        “I mean if you don't want me to get too jittery, yeah.”

        “We can take care of that first Nott,” I say fishing out my tarot deck.  “If you really need it I could run over to a bar I saw and have them fill it up.  It may not be the best, but it would be something.”

        “No, we should stick together, Fayde,” Caleb says.  “You can’t go wandering around on your own.”  I don’t bother to say that I’ve been doing exactly that since I was a child.  

        Before too long, two platters are scattered across the front of our table with a clattering sound.  On the sides are larger piles of meat than I’d had probably because Nott and Caleb were so thin - Nott because she was a goblin and Caleb because he just didn't eat as much as he should even when he had the coin.  A moment more and two Trosts join the platters and Nott moves her mask just enough to begin shoveling food into her mouth.

        Quietly watching the other patrons I shuffle the worn deck of cards deftly like I do every morning.  The ink has faded in places and the edges are frayed and bent from years upon years of use, but they feel as comfortable in my hand as they always do.  Waiting until I feel the familiar warmth surge through my fingertips, I pull out a simple three-card linear spread.  First comes the Tower, not an unusual card for me to pull, especially for the past.  It is a card of destruction, but also of karmic balance - the Tower experience comes like a flash of lightning to topple the hierarchy of the old order, after which everyone can have a fresh start on a more equal footing.  Next comes the Moon, a welcome card given yesterday and last light’s annoyances.  It was time for me to listen to my body and its unique wisdom as well as rely upon my inner resources as my best source of support and security.  Then I pull the last card - Death.  The first time I had pulled the card I ran crying to my mother because I thought it meant I was going to die, but I had long since learned death meant an end just as much as it meant beginning.  Death just meant change, and change was great if not sometimes hard.  In the future position, it let me know to keep an eye out for new opportunities that might bring about a shift.

        The Tower, the Moon, and Death.  A decent spread.

        As I shuffled my cards and gently tucked them back in my innermost pocket, I noticed Caleb watching an elderly man as he made his way over to the table next to ours where three other individuals are seated.

        “Might I sit please,” The man wheezes, his hat clutched to his chest.

        “Of course, take a seat,” Chirps a blue-skinned [tiefling](https://i.pinimg.com/564x/ce/88/37/ce88376c5f607fc2b6bde17937277ebf.jpg?b=t) with wavy blue hair and a brilliant smile.  On her left is a human [woman](https://i.pinimg.com/564x/b5/45/43/b54543c951dd007ee26f7ee8e8b3e51b.jpg?b=t) in baggy blue and grey clothes, wraps around her wrists and hands, a decent undercut and shave, and makeup that looks like she’s put it on a few days ago but hadn’t bothered to wash it off.  On the tiefling’s other side was a half-orc [gentleman](https://i.pinimg.com/564x/a8/97/6a/a8976a39eee368fe0f0364fa390ebcd6.jpg?b=t) in beat-up leathers and a large scar across his face.  He doesn’t have the customary tusks protruding from his bottom lip.

        “I thank you for your time, Fjord,” the elderly man says.  “And, I apologize, I forget your names.”

        “Beauregard,” grunts the human woman, maintaining a vaguely disinterested posture.

        “Jester.”

        “Jester, thank you.  You all came when no one else would yesterday, and because of you my daughter is still alive.”  Ah, so these three were the adventuring type then.

        “Oh yeah.  Sorry for being a pessimistic asshole, by the way, when we first came to town,” Beauregard said.

        “Oh, that’s ok.”

        “I’m not used to things turning out good.”

        “You’ll do well this side of the Empire.  Anyway, I won’t keep you, but I– we spoke yesterday, and I didn’t have much to give you.  Sent you away with nothing but my gratitude. But I’ve been asking around the other fishermen, lochsmen, and we’ve put together a little bit of coin for your troubles, so...” And he turns his cap over on the table sending a small pile of mostly copper and silver pieces spilling onto their table, a few gold coins amongst them.

        “So cool,” Jester squeaked, her hands clasping together and her smile growing even brighter.

        “I hope it’s helpful,” the old man said, setting his hat on his head.  “I just wanted a way to thank you three for what you did.”  Beauregard and Fjord shared a worried look seeing the coin scattered on their table and leaned in towards Jester.  I couldn’t hear whatever it was they were whispering about, and frankly, I didn’t care because I was busy inching my hand towards Nott who was leaning closer to their table, eyeing the coin.

        “Divide it up! I want to see how much we made,” Jester said, bouncing in her seat, not unlike a small child.  It was actually sort of cute.

        “Ok, ok,” Beauregard smirked, pulling the coin a little closer to her and closer to us.  As she did so, Fjord glanced around the room, glaring at anyone who was looking their way.  “How do you split up four gold?  We have four gold here and there’s only three of us.”

        “I don't know,” Jester shrugged.  

        “Wel, I actually did pretty good at that card game, so you can have mine,” Fjord said, still surveying the room.

        “Aw.  I Will.  Ok.”  Beau looked relieved at this as Jester cheered and commented that if Fjord didn't want his gold both girls got two gold each.  I remembered when I was excited about two gold.  As the girls continued to chatter on about splitting the pot they had just gotten, Fjord’s eyes finally found our table and he began mumbling to his companions.

        “Don’t arouse suspicion, but did you hear all that coin hit that table, Caleb,” Nott whispered, still keeping her yellow eyes trained on the table.

        “I did,” Caleb smiled.  “It’s on the table, though, so on the table it will stay.”

        “Yes, but we could follow them out.  We could do the Moneypot.  We could run Rat Food.  We could do Prince and the Pauper to get it from them-”

        “Nott, those people earned that money-” I whispered, trying to pull the little goblin away from the prospect of running another scam that could go awry.

        “We could try Spider Eyes,” Nott continued as though I had never spoken.  “Any of those could work-”

        “Are you guys staying here?”  Jester was looking at us now, a slight wrinkle to her brow.

        “Don’t move,” Nott murmured out of the corner of her mouth.  “Don’t move.  Tieflings can only see movement.”

        “I don’t think that’s true-” Caleb frowned.

        “It’s very true, we have a hard time seeing things that aren’t moving, it’s very true. But I can hear you. You should take a bath. You know they have showers here. It’s possible,”  Jester smirked, her nose wrinkling slightly as she leaned closer to our table.  To her credit, Nott and Caleb did smell, but she didn’t really need to point that out.”

        “A what now?”  Oh no Caleb, don't do this.

        “You bathe yourself in water.”

        “Ja, no, I have bathed before; I know what a bath is.”

        “It’s because you smell really bad, and it’s wafting over this direction.  I’m just letting you know.  I would hate if I smelled that bad and someone didn’t tell me.”

        “I-I’ve only just met you?”

        “Hi!  I’m Jester.”  The tiefling chirped. 

        “Hi, I’m Caleb.”

        “Nice to meet you, Caleb.  How much silver did I just get,” she threw back at Beauregard.

        “Seven!”

        “Woo, that’s what I’m talking about!”

        “Morning,” Beauregard frowned, squinting at Nott.  Suddenly she shouts in what I recognize as halfling and Nott, bless her little goblin heart, responds back in halfling almost instantly.  Beauregard laughs and leans back, “Would you like a coffee?  I’d love to buy you a coffee.”

        “We’ve got - free coffee?  Yeah, yeah, I’ll take it.  Sure.  Thank you,” Nott chirps, still keeping her gaze downward.

        “You’re being mighty fuckin’ friendly.  They were just looking at our coin,” Fjord grumbles.

        “Why can’t they have been looking at me,” Beauregard bites back, arms crossed.  “Maybe they were looking at me.”

        “I, I didn't think of that,” Fjord admits a bit taken aback.

        “Maybe they were looking at you.  As Jester just said, you are handsome.”

        Looking very uncomfortable with the sudden conversation springing up between the two tables, Caleb waves for Adelaine.  “Could I get another Trost over here, please?”

        “Oh, two please, right away!”  

        I sighed and got up, muttering to Caleb, “I’ll go get them.  The poor woman’s busy enough.”  Adelaine saw me making my way over and smiled appreciatively.  She filled two Trosts and handed them over to me with a breathy thank you.  “Can I help at all?  Take some tables or something so you can take a seat and get some water?  You look just exhausted and it’s not even noon.”

        “I couldn’t let you do that,” she sighs.  “But thank you, I don’t often get people offering to help out around here.”

        “Then you haven’t met the right people,” I smiled.  “Seriously though, when you have a moment sit and get some water or some coffee.”

        “I will, thank you.”  With a nod and a small smile, I wove my way back over to where Caleb and Nott were sitting.  Except as soon as I get there, Jester and Beauregard see me hand them their drinks and begin ordering food.  

        “Could I get some pastries?  If you have them,” Jester asks, looking up at me with large, purple eyes. 

        “Pork belly, if you’ve got it,” Fjord smiles

        “And bacon, I need lots of bacon,” Beauregard adds.

        “Erm, sure.  I’ll be right back with that,”  I smile, not about to correct the group.  

        I quickly weave my way back to the bar and catch Adelaine’s attention.  “Hey, so I’m back, the table next to ours is asking for food if you’ve got a second.”

        “Do you know what they want?”

        “Ja, the tiefling wants whatever pastries you’ve got, the half-orc wants pork belly, and the human wants ‘a lot of bacon,’” I list off.  “I can wait here and take it over for you.”

        “Thanks,” Adelaine sighs.  “Give me a minute,” and with that, she ducks back into the kitchen, returning a moment later with three plates which she hands over before rushing over to another table that is waving her over.

        “She’s a goblin?!” Jester gasps as I make my way back over to the group and setting their platters down.  “Oh, shoot, erm, I mean-”

        “It’s ok,” I smile, taking my seat against the wall.  “She’s our companion, that’s why she’s all wrapped up - we don’t need anyone making a fuss because there’s a goblin in town.”

        “Oh shit,” Beauregard says staring at me.  “You don’t work here, do you?  Shit, guys, we just made her get us food!”

        “If I was bothered by it I would have said something, it’s really ok,” I smile.  “My name’s Fayde, I’m Caleb’s little sister.

        Just then, the door to the inn burst open and two figures stride in, one overshadowing the other.  One of them is a lavender [tiefling](https://i.pinimg.com/564x/a5/e2/96/a5e296c63641cc0d7de1699ad3dd4776.jpg?b=t) with red eyes and curved, extremely ostentatious horns that are pierced with little gems and little baubles.  He's got a beautiful peacock tattoo that seems to be running along his neck and up the side of his face before it disappears beneath the very ostentatious and ridiculously overblown robes that he wears over his wonderfully broad clothing.  The tiefling begins darting from table to table with his companion in toe.  The [woman](https://i.pinimg.com/564x/ac/64/cd/ac64cdb71ed8541fa1ef8ca9a834be5d.jpg?b=t) following him is very tall with extremely pale skin.  Her hair is black that starts to turn white as it gets longer. It’s matted, dreaded, and braided.  Her clothes are a bit tattered and messy, but she doesn’t seem to mind.  Glancing up at her face, she has dark makeup smudged beneath her mismatched blue and purple eyes.  Unlike the tiefling who is interacting with different patrons, the woman keeps her arms folded and form hunched in silence.  As I trailed the pair, the tiefling engaged in some distant conversation left a slip of paper with one of the customers and bounced over to the next table.  Here, he gauged the atmosphere, did not leave a slip of paper, and quickly moved on, and then eventually spotted our tables.  He grinned and bounded over, chains and baubles jangling as he went.

        “Well. I don’t believe I’ve ever seen a group of people more in need of a good time in my entire life.”  The tiefling gave a deep bow and a dazzling smile that flashed his pointed teeth.  “Mollymauk Tealeaf of the Fletching and Moondrop Traveling Carnival of Curiosities.  If there was ever a group of people that needed a good time to go out, have a laugh, see things that you have never seen before, and my god, take my word for it, one month’s time, people will be buying your ale to hear the tale of what you saw at the Traveling Carnival of Curiosities this night.”  I raised my eyebrows and leaned forward, my hands folded beneath my chin in a practiced posture of rapt attention.  I had seen a large tent go up last night and thought about investigating, but I didn’t want to get distracted with my job.

        “We saw your tent going up! We did!”  Jester began bouncing in her seat again, eyes glued to the lavender tiefling.

        “We were actually going to go without the flyer, but now we also have a flyer,” Beauregard grinned.

        “It’s just five copper. A steal. At five silver, it would be a steal, at five gold? Worth every penny. But if you’ve got the five copper to spend, we would happily have you all.”

        “What about you, do you perform,”  I asked, making direct eye contact with the carnie.  It was a perfect explanation for their appearance.

        “Ah. I’m less of a performer and more of an intermediary for these parts.  I do on occasion perform.  I can read fortunes–” but Mollymauk is cut off by Jester at the mention of fortunes.  

        “I was going to ask if you read fortunes!  Can you do one now,” she gasps, clapping her hands together.

        “I knew you were going to ask that,” Mollymauk winks, pulling out a set of tarot cards and straddling the chair in front of Jester.

        “Oh my gosh, you’re so smart. Look at this guy, he knows everything!”

        “Well, who has the coin for a fortune?”  Mollymauk grins looking between the group, lingering on me for a brief second longer than the rest.  

        “Do you know my name,” Jester asks, ignoring their question.

        “What is your name?”

        "Hi, I'm Jester!"

        “I know your name now!”  Jester, Fjord, and I laugh.

        “What is your name,” Jester asks even though he had just told us his name a moment ago.

        “Oh, my name is Molly to my friends, and we are friends now, aren’t we?”

        “Mol-ly,” Jester says, rolling the name on her tongue.

        “Mollymauk, Molly for short.  This,” he smiles, pointing to the woman looming behind them, “is Yasha.  She’s a charm.  Now would anyone like a fortune?  What about you,” he grins, pointing at me.  
I take out the leather pouch and unfold the flap so that he can see my cards.  “I’ve already done my spread for the day, but I think Jester here would like one.”  I slip my cards back in my pocket as Jester gapes at me and then Molly.  “How much would a reading be?”

        “For your friend?  Two copper.”

        “Done,” I grin, palming two silver and shaking his hand so Caleb doesn’t see how much I actually paid. The man already looks flabbergasted that I willingly paid for Jester to have her fortune told.  “I traveled with a circus for a bit,” I whisper to Molly.  “Don’t give her anything that’d scare her, I don’t think she knows anything about the cards.”  Molly winks, pockets the silver, and begins shuffling his cards, discreetly shifting a few cards to the front.

        “Your first card,” Molly says, “the Silver Dragon.  This is good, very good.  You’re pure, you’re virtue, you are a worthwhile and wonderful human being, obviously, or creature of some repute.”  Oh, he’s good.

        “That’s what everyone always tells me,” Jester gushes, obviously entertained by just the notion of the reading.

        “It’s true.  And heading towards the Anvil.”

        “What’s that,” Jester frowns.

        “It’s a destiny forged, Jester’” I smile pointing at the card.  Mine are more worn and a different style, but the art on his cards is lovely and attention-getting, perfect for the circus.

        “There’s something bright and adventurous in your future,” Molly adds.  

        "Wow! You know, we did just defeat a really big snake,”  Jester beams at everyone gathered around Molly and tugs on Beauregard's shoulder.  “Maybe there are even bigger things coming up, you know?”  
I watch as Molly skims their finger along the deck until he finds what he was looking for.  “The Serpent card appears,” he grins.  “Of course you did.”

        “Oh my gosh! Look at that! How did you even do that,” Jester squeals.  

        “It’s all in the cards, Jester,” I grin.  “He’s obviously a vessel for higher powers.”  

        Across the table, Caleb shifted and muttered something beneath his breath, frowning.

        “Can you ask the cards if I’m going to find him?”

        “Her?”

        “Him,” Jester corrects, suddenly serious.  

        “Give me a little more,” Molly frowns, running his fingers along the cards.  She must have thrown off whatever he had planned.  “Who is this ‘him’ you are looking for?”

        “I’m looking for my dad.”  My heart sinks.  Now Molly has to be careful because Jester’s suddenly looking at his hands as he begins to fumble and I go to distract her, but he pulls out a card with a small smile.

        “The Eye card pulls up.  You’ve already found the clue you’re looking for.  You just don’t know what it is yet.”

        “Really?”

        “Apparently. Well, it’s what the cards are saying. It’s right in front of you.”

        “Wow. Does it say how long ago I found it? Because that’s–”

        “It doesn’t work like that,” I cut in.  “Vessels are limited in what they can do and Molly has already been channeling them for a little while.  That kind of information would take hours of meditation and even then the cards may not be able to give a properly clear answer.”

        “I could try to give you a more complicated reading this evening before the show if you come to my tent,” Molly offers.  

        “I can’t wait!  It’s going to be so much fun!”

        “Oh, most definitely,” Molly agrees.

 _“What was all that about?”_  Caleb whispers in out native Zemnian as Jester pulls Yasha into the conversation.

 _“I worked in a carnival for a bit a few years ago, brother - you were in school and I needed the money.  The first rule, the most important rule, is that carnies stick together and Jester would have been devastated if she’d gotten anything other than a positive reading.”_   

_“But you paid for it?  We do not know these people.”_

_“Relax, it was two copper and it made her happy.  Can’t we let people be happy?_ ”  Caleb looked at me, scanning my face trying to pick apart anything I said.  He wanted to find a lie somewhere, a half-truth buried in my words that he could tear apart.  Unfortunately for him, there was none, just the truth.  “I think, I am going to head up to my room and take a nap,” I whisper, switching back to common so Nott can understand.  “I didn’t sleep well.”

        “I didn’t think you did,” she frowned.  “Do you need us to get you anything?”

        “No, darling, I’m more than fine.  You and Caleb just keep on your toes, got it?”  The goblin nodded as I got up and stretched.  It was time I went to bed.  “Hey, I’ll see you all at the show tonight,” I smile to the rest of the group.  “You,” I say, pointing to Molly, “keep an eye out for me later.  I would love to talk to you about, ah, the wonder of the cards.”

        “I most certainly will,” Molly grins, one of his hands, also covered in tattoos and rings, gripping one of my own and bringing it to his lips.  I had forgotten tieflings were so warm, I almost didn't want him to let go of my hand because warmth felt so good.  “Until then…”

        “Fayde.  Fayde Widogast.  Until then, Mollymauk Tealeaf.”  And with that, I left Caleb to deal with whatever he and Nott had planned for the day, making my way to Yorda and requesting the sewing supplied I knew I needed.  Needle and a spool of thread in hand, I retreated to the room I was meant to be sharing with Caleb, mended my shirt, and promptly took a long nap.

><><><><><

        When I woke up several hours later, I felt infinitely better than I did when I collapsed onto the bed.  Without Caleb and Nott in the room, I was able to strip down to just my underclothes, stretch, and sleep with just a sheer blanket wrapped around me instead of my clothes and shoddy leather armor.  I hadn’t slept this comfortably in months.  Maybe, since Caleb was letting us venture to larger cities, we could eventually go to Zedash where I could be even more comfortable.  That would be great.  

        It was late afternoon now, but the oranges and pinks of sunset had yet to appear which meant I had plenty of time to find Molly.  Downstairs, the inn was much quieter than it had been that morning, though several tables were still taken.  Yorda was kind enough to get me a small plate of the chicken they were serving for dinner with a bit of bread and even a small cup of cold coffee that was leftover from the morning - all free of charge.  When she wasn’t looking, though, I slipped a gold piece into the pocket of her apron for the meal and her kindness.  With a full belly, something I hadn’t had in a long time, and a spring in my step, I set out to where I had seen the circus tent go up the night before.  The carnival was not too hard to find, people were already beginning to gather and colorful, cloth banners had appeared where there were none the day before.  I could not see Molly amongst the small crowd, so I made my way to the tent to where a gangly half-elf was standing in performers’ dress.

        “Excuse me, would you happen to know where Molly is?”  I hoped I looked innocent enough to not raise any suspicion the half-elf may have about why I was looking for Mollymauk.

        “I am afraid I do not,” the half-elf smiled - but it was just a little too large and his answer a little too quick to be the truth.  Still, I played along, letting my shoulders sag and adopting a very disappointed visage not too unlike a how a child would act when denied a toy by a parent.

        “That’s a real shame, sir.  We got to talking this morning and I promised him I would come early, you see,” I sniffed.

        “Well, erm, I’m sure he’s around somewhere,” the man said, beginning to lose his resolve.  “He’s a very busy man though, he may not be back from spreading fliers from the inn a little way into your town here.”  Oh, the lies just keep coming from this one.  I’m about to feed him some bullshit about how I was really looking forward to his company because Mollymauk had been just ever so charming when a hand clamped down on my shoulder and a familiar voice slithered into my ear.

        “Now, what could have upset you, my dear?  Gustav, I hope you weren't the one to upset my friend, here.  Us carnies do need to stick together, you know.”

        The man, Gustav, blinked in surprise and began to make an excuse but I cut him off.

        “Oh good you are here, I didn’t want to miss you before the show, darling!  Don’t mind the waterworks, they tend to be the best way to get what I want out of people.”

        “You little minx,” Mollymauk laughed.

        “I did tell you I traveled with a carnival for some time, you really shouldn’t be surprised.”

        “You were part of another carnival,” Gustav asks.  “Would you be looking to join another?  We could always use another people pleaser and you seem like just the person.  You had me going with those tears.”

        “Oh, I couldn’t even if I wanted to.  I am traveling with my brother and he, uh, distrusts most people we come across.  Joining your carnival would probably drive him insane,” I explain.

        “You have a brother,” Molly muses, steering me to a campsite behind the main circus tent.  Several other carnies were rushing around, some in costumes, others in common clothes still working on setting up their campsite.

        “Yes, you met him earlier.  He was the awkward redhead sitting across from me at the inn.”

        “The one that was whispering to you.”

        “Yes, I do apologize for that but we tend to prefer to speak to each other in our mother tongue when we don’t want to be overheard.  He wasn’t thrilled that I paid for Jester’s reading, you see.  He’s quite tight-fisted with money.”

        “And you aren’t?”  Molly holds open the tent flap for me and we sit across from each other in one of the smaller tents that he probably calls home.

        “I have ways of getting coin,” I smirk.  “Not everyone needs to run scams to fill their purses.”  Molly nods as if he understands what I meant completely and doesn’t push the subject.  I wouldn’t doubt if he knew I was only telling part of the truth.  “Erm, speaking of filling things, would you mind terribly if I bring out a friend?  I pocketed some bacon this morning and he does rather enjoy it.”  
“By all means, I would love to meet any friend of yours,” Molly grins, taking out his cards.  Smiling, I snap my fingers and in a tiny puff of smoke, a grinning [fox](https://i.pinimg.com/564x/de/72/14/de7214b8ff9010a29030e79c404fc176.jpg?b=t) appears.  “Well, that wasn't quite what I expected,” Molly laughs as the fox begins sniffing the ground and crawling into his lap to explore his horns.

        “This is my familiar, his name is Trogal.”

        “Freedom?  You’ve named him in Infernal?”

        “Well, of course, he is a fiend after all.  It throws everyone through a loop when I call for him in crowds because if anyone actually understands Infernal, they just think I’m yelling about freedom.  It’s quite amusing to watch.  Come here baby, I’ve got bacon,” I coo as I pull out a small pouch filled with the crumbled up cold remnants of my breakfast.  Trogal yips and leaps into my lap, setting his paws on my shoulders, his tongue lolling out the side of his mouth. 

        “So do you actually speak Infernal or is it just the one word?”

 _“It is my second language, darling.  It is as easy to me as Common or_ _Zemnian_ _,”_  I reply, the familiar harshness of Infernal at home on my tongue, feeding small bits of bacon to Trogal as I spoke.  “I also am quite good at Elvish, Sylvan, Gnomish, and Undercommon.  Caleb tried to teach me Celestial, but I couldn't pick it up at all, I would go deaf trying to listen and once I passed out.  I don’t think the gods want me to know it,” I admitted.  “But it really doesn’t matter, they talk to me through my cards.”

        “Still, that’s seven languages, you must be very smart,” Molly says.

        “Not as smart as Caleb, but I do alright.”

        “Ah, you don't need to be as smart as him,”  Molly frowned pulling out the Strength card.  “You’re strong enough on your own.”

        “Cute trick, but I trust your readings about as much as I trust Nott to not go through my things when I sleep.”

        “That’s fair,” he conceded.  “So you read?  How often?”

        “Every morning if I can, but I’ll read at night once the others are asleep if I didn’t manage to that morning.  What about you, do you actually read or is just all for show?”

        “Sometimes I do when I feel like I need some extra guidance, and I do actually give real readings to some people, but I try to use the cards to make people feel better for the most part.”

        “I get that, I used to do the same thing when I was in the carnival.”

        “You could do it again tonight,” Molly offered.  “We could do readings for people outside the main tent and make some coin; I’m sure Gustav would let us split whatever we make.”

        “I wouldn’t want to take business from you,” I frown.  “If Gustav is alright with me giving readings I can certainly do so, but I would prefer your troupe keeps whatever we make, it’s only fair.”

        “Are you sure?  I wouldn’t want you to miss out on some coin.”

        “As long as Trogal can stay with me I would be more than happy to join you.”

        Molly grinned and rolled out of the tent to track down Gustav and ask him while I stayed and pet Trogal who insisted on rolling in the dirt where Molly had been sitting.  He probably liked how Molly smelled.  There was something magnetic about the man that seemed to pull me in and hold me in place.  His clothes were far more colorful than I had become used to, his smile was always just a little crooked so that it was hard to tell whether or not he was being genuine or just messing with me.  Somehow, Mollymauk seemed like more of an old friend than a new acquaintance - familiar and comfortable and warm.  If I wasn’t obligated to stay with Caleb I would have taken Gustav’s offer and stayed to find out just exactly how Mollymauk managed to pull me in.  Or maybe I would have simply enjoyed being with him like I just had been.  Trogal was certainly happy enough with him despite not really liking anyone other than me. 

        After a few minutes, Mollymauk’s head poked into the tent, his mischevious grin in place.

        “Gustav said he would be delighted to have you join me at the front before the show.  If we start now I bet we could make a decent bit of coin.”  I grinned and crawled out of the tent, falling in step with Molly.  He already had a sign set up a little way away from the tent declaring that fortunes could be told for the simple price of two copper and a blanket just large enough for the two of us to sit on.

        Death.  Maybe the cards were giving me more of a hint than usual.


	2. Trouble at the Carnival

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Carnival Zombies. Getting closer to Molly. Sibling bullshit.

        When the oranges and pinks of dusk do finally do arrive, it is through cloudy skies and with the chill of the evening air.  With a gesture from Gustav, Molly gets up to leave explaining that the troupe orchestrated a parade of sorts the first night to pull in anyone who was debating about whether or not they really wanted to see the show while they were in town.  So I waited for him to return, Trogal at my side.  Before long, the sounds of a fiddle began to drift on the breeze and I see what exactly Molly meant what he said they were orchestrating a parade.  I had seen a few people in costume, but with everyone together, the sight was wonderfully familiar.  

        All the performers are flamboyantly dressed, though some were more so than others. Gustav is the one leading the pack, his long, ashy-brown hair curling ever-so-slightly past his mid-back, his long coat and tails knocking around by his skipping step.  Two halfling women in purple and green bodysuits dance from side to side, handing flowers to children and flyers to adults, as a bald man in a neck-frilled frock coat of bright red, his face adorned in vibrant orange makeup to look like the setting sun behind him, plays the fiddle that had been drifting on the wind just a moment or two before in the customary upbeat, jovial manner of a carnival.  A tall, muscular, half-orc man with a well-groomed handlebar mustache that curved out to the side and billowing white silk shirt and black trousers, follows behind with a big drum slung over his shoulder, drumming along with the fiddle.  Amongst them and weaving between the villagers they had gathered was Molly, a grin displaying his sharp teeth and dimples I hadn’t quite managed to see earlier, juggling two curved scimitars as he went, almost loses one and catches it before continuing on drawing gasps from the little ones around him.  A woman of short, fiery red hair and dark skin walking between the dancers, lifts a small candle before–fwoosh!  A giant burst, a gout of flame emerges from the front of her mouth, brightens the vicinity, and everyone collectively gasps and begins cheering and clapping as they continue the walk closer to the tent. There, to the back of it, towers Molly’s friend Yasha, her arms crossed, keeping an eye like a security guard to ensure that no business gets out of hand as it tends to with these sorts of events.

        The parade seemed to have gathered a decent turn out for a town this size.  Children pulled their parents’ hands as they tugged them along, pointing at the performers in awe, workers still covered in sweat and dirt bore tired smiles as they watched, losing themselves in the charged atmosphere.  Even some Crown’s Guard are dispersed in the crowd in their familiar bronze and vermilion uniform, though they seem to be trying to maintain order between themselves seeming curious or visibly distrusting of these supposed hooligans that suddenly have usurped the evening air.  And there, amongst the throng, I could see the blue skin of Jester as she bounced along, Beauregard and Fjord close behind with my brother and Nott.  It doesn't take too long for Molly to spot their group, they stick out about as much as he does, and he strikes up a conversation. 

        Almost immediately, children begin to run up to where I’m sat, still in very mundane traveling clothes, but they don’t seem to mind.  Most of them are more interested in whether or not I can do tricks like the other performers rather than readings, so I call forward four globules of light, all of different colors, making them dance and wink in and out between the giggling children before directing them to coalesce  into a humanoid form that began to dance.  A few adults watch close by and a few approach, asking for the readings Molly’s sign announced I would do for two copper.  By the time Molly comes back to continue readings at my side, I’ve made an additional twenty copper from fortunes and five copper for my light trick from one of the parents that had been watching.  Almost immediately Molly is taken up with a farmer with a horrific cough while I have an elderly woman in front of me.

        “I just don’t know what to do,” she sighed.  “I’ve tried everything to get him to feel better, but he just sits in front of the window all day.  He won’t get a job, won’t get a wife, won’t do anythin’!”

        “I’m sure your son is just waiting for a sign to guide him, ma’am.  Look here,” I quickly sense where the card is and pull it out to face the woman.  “The Fool shows his face.  Now I know what that must seem like to be presented with a card that seems to call your son foolish, but the Fool is a sign of optimism and new beginnings.  You said your son loves the water, yes?”  The woman nodded, wringing her hands together.  “The World - your son needs a new beginning.  Perhaps the coast?  Something...yes, yes I believe that is the answer!  Advise your son to travel to the port city of Nicodranas.  It will be a bit of a journey, four days of travel to the Wuyun Gate and another four-and-a-half to the city itself...but the cards say the journey will do him good.”

        “Yes, Nicodranas, I - I don’t know why I didn’t see it before!  Oh, thank you,” the woman beams, her yellowed teeth hard to miss behind her thin lips.  She hands me three copper, “you’ve helped save my boy, I insist!” and waddles off into the crowd.  

        “You know, you’re real good at that,” Fjord says, peering down at the cards that lay in front of me.  “Are you some sort of con-woman or somethin’?”

        “I guess you could call it that, but really I’m just trying to help these people.  Life out here isn’t easy if you don’t have money.  So did you enjoy the parade they put together?  I saw everyone come in and it looked quite fun.”

        “Oh, yeah, it was quite the show.  Almost makes me wonder how they’re gonna top it.”

        “Hey, are you two coming?” Beauregard shouted from the tent entrance.  She was leaning heavily on a staff while Yasha patted down my brother.

        “Ja, just let me pick these up,” I call back, scooping up my cards and securing them in my coat.  Jogging up to the group, I see Nott hand over her shortsword and try to pocket her crossbow.  I smiled to myself and was going to let it pass but Yash had seen too.

        “No, no, no, little girl,” she sighed.  It must have been a hassle to be the one collecting weapons from people, that had never been my job at my carnival.  “Give me your other weapon.”

        “This is a toy for children, though,” Nott protested.

        “It’s ok, Nott, I think Yasha just wants to keep people safe.  See?  I’ll hand over my handaxe and you’ll give her your crossbow and we’ll get them back after the show,” I smile, unhooking my handaxe from beneath my coat where it had been hidden.

        “All right, I’m sorry,” Nott muttered passing over the crossbow that was most definitely not a child’s toy.

        “Are you keeping track of what goes with what person?  Because it’s a lot,” Jester frowns.

        “She’s very good at this,” Molly assured her.  As Yasha haggled with Fjord for his weapon which he didn’t want to give up, Molly went back to where we’d been sitting and picked up his cards in what looked like a very specific order.

        “All right, well. If you want to follow me, I’ll take you to your seats and I’ll stand beside you the whole time,” Yasha says.

        “Fuckin’ lead the way,” Fjord grins.  Out of the corner of my eye, I see Molly flip two cards to Jester, the Moon and the Shadow, before nodding and pocketing his deck and joining me at the front.  

        “Beau.”  Both the half-orc that was helping collect weapons and Beauregard turn to Yasha.  “Little one,” the woman clarifies, walking over and slinging her over her shoulder like she weighed nothing.  “Since you can't walk,” she grinned.

        “Such grace!  Such form!  Such dignity!”  Molly is laughing and leaning against me so he doesn't lose his balance, an arm slung around my shoulder.  As everyone made their way in, the half-orc, apparently named Bo, collected five copper from each person after a quick debate over who has what coin and Molly joking with Jester that being in the show somehow meant he had to pay more.  When Bo turned to me though, Molly held out his hand.  

        “Not her, Bo, she’s covered - made us about a couple silver’s worth in fortunes alone!”  Seeing Caleb stiffen I quickly reach into my purse and fold a silver piece into Bo’s hand even as Molly tried to stop me.  

        “A fee, is a fee, is a fee,” I whisper, “and I have my Trogal with me.  No special treatment.”  Bo smiles and nods, holding the tent flap open for me, but Molly scowls.

        “You didn’t need to do that, Fayde.” 

        “Ah, but I’ve paid for two to watch the show,” I grin.  “You said I was free.  Now you and Trogal get to watch.”

        “That, that makes no sense,” Molly laughs.  “But you did pay, so I guess I’ll just have to stay with you.”  Molly and I sit with the rest of the group in the center of the first row, Nott and Caleb throwing curious glances my way.  This isn't our usual - we try to avoid people, not buddy up to them.  But I get the sense he spent the day with Jester, Beau, and Fjord so what is different about me sitting with Molly?  It doesn't help that Molly still had his arm wrapped around me like he’s known me for years and is used to leaning on me.  Affection and connection isn’t our prerogative, at least not my brother’s.

        Eventually, it begins to quiet a bit, everyone having found their seats.  The familiar sound of the fiddle begins to play, and everyone quickly gets quiet.  The music seems sourceless in the interior of the tent. Everyone begins to look around to see where it may come from and apparently a few find the source because whispers of “look”s begin to make their way to my ears.  At the top of the tent, seeming to stretch and fall, like a slow drop of water, the man in red I saw earlier descends from the top of the tent, but now he is dressed head-to-toe in a matching deep blue outfit and full makeup, to where he appears out of the canopy of the tent.  He hangs from a rope by one foot, it’s wrapped around and clutched as his foot catches the edge. Playing his violin ever-so-slowly as he carefully descends, and then at the last moment, he releases the rope and lands on his feet, continuing the music he’s playing.  He slowly spins as Gustav enters the tent from the distant flaps, the performers’ entrance, his head now sporting that same tall hat, flopping backward at the apex.  He extends his arms, removing the hat, and takes a deep bow as the crowd begins to clap.

        “Ladies and gentlemen of Trostenwald,” Gustav booms, “I am Carnival Master Gustav Fletching, and allow me to welcome you to the Fletching and Moondrop’s Traveling Carnival of Curiosities.”  He pauses for the smattering of applause before continuing.  “I ask you, each and every one of you grant us your imaginations this eve but a trifle bit of time, and allow us to reveal a realm of laughter, mystery, danger, and beauty.  I see you’ve already met Desmond.”  And he gestures towards the man in all blue who’s playing the fiddle.  “He’ll be part of our story tonight, so keep a wily eye for the shifting fool. But first, I tell you a tale of two sisters of the Fey.”  Desmond slowly backs out of the tent as two Crown’s Guard appear at the entrance, watching him with calculated gazes as he leaves.  “Lost without form into the mazes of the underworld. There, where the body would break, they found a teacher in a mystical serpent, and the gift they received was the ability to bend with this maze that captured them and slither their way back to the surface to reclaim their place in the world.  May I present to you Mona and Yuli, the Knot Sisters.”  As he slowly backs through the performers’ entrance, the two halfling dancers I saw earlier, in the full bodysuits, emerge from behind the Carnival Master as he discreetly exits.  They sport serpentine makeup, scales affixed to the sides of their face and arms.  Approaching the central spire, the pole that holds the tent up, one immediately leaps onto the shoulders of the other, bending her back a near-impossible amount, creating a humanoid sculpture that I can see the front row cringe at the idea of the pain that would cause an average individual.  But these halflings are very nimble and able to create almost a single form out of two bodies.  Their rigid form becomes fluid to the eye as they move and shift to the music, the violin now sourceless once again, but they seem to move as it picks up speed.  I can't help the small smile that makes its way to my lips.  On either side, I feel Caleb and Molly watching me as much as the show.  Suddenly, the top one folds over and slams into the ground, tumbling across the center in a wild display of physical control.  The two of them begin to tangle and wrap like two battling snakes, their bodies seemingly disconnecting from the rigid halfling forms I had seen, and I swear, for a moment, becoming serpentine-like as they intertwine around the base of this pole.  It’s beautiful and violent at the same time. It’s almost off-putting.  I watch as they curl around the base of this pole, the lights above begin to become a dull greenish-blue and get darker and darker, presenting this imagery of the underworld.  One by one, they silently tell a tale of struggle, crawling across one, then the other, one at a time, using their serpentine-like forms as an extending ladder, folding over each other as they use every muscle in their body to cling around this pole and ladder-step up like a snake. It’s a very strange but alluring sight, and I  can’t help but notice that, for a brief moment, I forgot that these are two halfling girls, and I find myself pulled into this wordless story they tell of climbing back to their place, to the surface, towards the dark sky of lightless blue cloth.  As the baubles that contain the interior light of the tent begin to glow brighter and brighter, their climbing becomes more fevered.  The two of them, arm into arm, leg into leg, rolling up and swirling, until eventually at the apex they grab each other’s arms around the pole before spinning downward, back-to-back, legs outward, with a rapid pace, the music coming to a full crescendo.  Like a Maypole, they both curl and twirl and then tumble to the ground before the audience with a flourish, arms in the air, and the audience erupts in applause.  For once I don’t feel bad about joining in the cheers of a crowd, my voice lost among the dozens of others.

        As they both begin to back away, smiles on their faces, nodding to each other, Gustav emerges once more from the performers’ flap.  The fool appears at the back entrance again, taking an ominous tune with his violin this time, his outfit no longer blue but a crushing deep black.  The hanging lights darken once again as Gustav takes the center stage. 

        “In a flash, beyond the ash, the gods all went and gone. The darkness came to grasp, reclaim, and suffocate the dawn.” Suddenly, out of the darkness behind him, a burst of flame lights the room. “But from that night, a burning light doth keep back shadows’ bane. The strength to fight will set alight the morning sun again.

        “Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you Ornna the fire fairy.” And Gustav leaves the tent once more.

        A pair of metallic fans, alight with flame, now frame the beautiful woman of short red hair I had seen before in the procession.  Gustav slinks into the darkness and vanishes as Ornna spins in a hypnotic twirl, her simple dress of golds and reds almost glowing in the firelight around her, the flickering of the flames giving her the visage of a warrior-goddess battling the darkness that surrounds.  The frenzied fiddle of the fool picks up as she twirls the fans in her grasp, her face stoic and graceful simultaneously.  The hushed awe of the audience fills the air, watching this magnificent warrior strike at the shadows, the lights above flickering brighter with each spin and dive, banishing the shadows from the room.  She matches the pace of the music, drawing to a crescendo, and leaps, and barrel-turns and climaxes with her striking a powerful pose as the lights rocket to a victorious luminescence. Once again, the crowd goes crazy.

        “This is really different than most carnivals that I’ve gone to,”  Jester says over the din.

        “It’s very artistic, yeah,” Nott agrees, but I don’t think she’s ever seen a carnival performance before because she certainly hasn't with Caleb and I.  I don't even think Caleb has been to one.

        Gustav enters as she exits with a bow, the fans flickering out. He enters clapping at Ornna.  A low drumbeat begins to beat in the distance as the fiddle grows tense once more “Even as the sun would rise anew, bellowing roars will quake the lands of Xhorhas and beyond  Terrible beasts, now freed from their dark masters, scattered into our world.”  A terrible, guttural roar shakes the room, followed by the sounds of grinding and dragged chains.  From behind the performers’ flap appear the half-orc, Bo, and Desmond the fool, who is now still playing the fiddle, yet the bow of it continues to go on its own as he drags the other chain with his arm, wrapped around his forearm. The two of them pull something through the flap.  It swells, and from beneath it is revealed an enormous creature of green scales, slimy-looking skin, and a corpulent form, large toad-like legs frame a rotund torso and muscular arms that are manacled and pulling him in. It fights and wrestles against the taut chains as it’s pulled further and further towards the center of the tent, but is held in place by the two men. It roars a second time.

        The front row immediately begins pulling back and screaming.  I can pick out the sounds of kids beginning to cry.  A handful of townsfolk shoot to their feet, grasping the children in fear, preparing to run.  Even Caleb looks ready to grab Nott and bolt.  Next to me, Molly stiffens so I reach up to where his arm is and gently rub his knuckles.

        “It’s ok, they’ll realize he won’t hurt them,” I whisper.  It isn’t uncommon for carnivals to have such sights, though they are often mere illusions.

        Gustav continues, seemingly unflinched by its approach and the audience's reactions. “The devil-toad crawls hungrily into the land of the free folk, lording over nightmares as they say, and what truth lies behind the eyes of this beast?  What would be learned when the guiding heart of innocence pierces the hateful soul and brings it to see beauty for the first time?  I present to you the vivid voice of Toya.”  And as Gustav backs away, the devil-toad struggling against the chains, a soft, faint voice begins to slowly emanate from the air.  

        There, atop a platform within the chamber, high up on a small platform set against the apex of the pole, a young dwarven girl, maybe 12 years of age, her braided golden hair clasped and her hands at her side, a white dress obscuring her feet.  She sings with a mystifying, mature voice that pierces my heart with joy, unexpectedly and uncontrollably.  The crowd audibly gasps as one, the entrancing song of this girl bringing every person into this music.  The devil-toad stops struggling against the chains, seemingly caught by the sound of her voice.  Its face drops into a soft smile as it slowly walks towards the base of the pole and sits.  The half-orc and the fool drop the chains and back away, leaving the beast free in its rapture.  Her voice almost begins to summon a chorus from the ether, magical in nature, as there are no others but her joining into this piece.  Her smile is infectious, and I tear your eyes away.  Vaguely, I felt tears slide down my cheeks, this had once been part of my life.  I had once stood in white in a cage and sang for crowds during performances with my old troupe, and here was this little girl, no older than I was when I started doing the same thing.  But then, from the front row of the audience, on the left, a man stands up, his arms outstretched towards her.  His dirtied cloak falls away, his face and skin wracked with age.  His legs are shaking as he stands, his cheeks wet with tears. Then he shouts.  His arms drop and clutch his chest. Gurgles a burst of vocal pain once more, and folks nearest to him begin to lean away as he begins to shake.  I watch, only slightly horrified, as the skin on his arms suddenly begins to tear, the bones splitting from the flesh, writhing, cracking.  Dust and blood shake from his wounds as his form swells. Screams begin to ring out from the audience around him, people rising up and running for the exit.  Chaos breaks into the room around where our group sits.  Toya’s song abruptly ends, the little girl looking down with fright in her eyes, the devil-toad glancing about worriedly, the half-orc and the fool rushing up beside him to look at the transforming man. 

        The half-orc yells, escorting patrons to the exit, “Everyone! Leave the tent now! Kylre–” he points to the devil-toad, “–get her to safety.”  The devil-toad glances up and leaps with a sudden gust of strength to the top and grabs the center pole of the room as it begins to almost quiver to his weight.  He grabs the little girl safely under his arm and leaps back down.

        Suddenly, another Jester appears out of thin air and Fjord yells, “Yasha? We’re going to need those weapons back.”

        “Man, I thought it was kind of lame at first, but this is awesome,” Beau grinned, still sitting at Yasha’s feet.

        And then Molly is pulling me to my feet, panic flashing across his face.  “Everyone get out right now”

        “This isn’t part of the show?”  Beau sounds genuinely confused, like she thought an audience member turning into some undead monster was normal for a carnival show.

        “Not part of the show,” Fjord grinds out, looking around wildly.

        The old man’s body stops quaking, his flesh now grey and mangled like an ancient tree trunk.  He turns, his eyes blood-red and bulging, his lips curled into a horrifying grimace.  The two Crown’s Guard begin to try and make their way through the panicked crowd, but the people, like a wave of chaos, are keeping them at bay.  

        Without a second thought, I cast Disguise Self on myself and yell to Caleb, “We need to get everyone out!”  Before I can do anything else, though, one of the Jesters is shooting a spell at the old man and darting away while the other stays where it appeared.

        The creature, ignoring the spell Jester hit it with, lunged at a woman near him missing on its first swipe as she desperately tries to crawl away, but the second swing crashes into her chest.  As it does, she gives out a horrible yelp as it rips into her and begins gnawing into her flesh and pulls away with a mouthful of it and stands up, its eyes scanning the room for the next possible victim.  Slowly, it begins stalking towards another audience member who hasn't fled the tent yet.  Yasha, realizing the need to arm us, tossed our weapons back and drew her own blade, a wickedly sharp longsword from its sheath on her back.  Fjord, with his falchion, dashes forward slicing upwards into the creature, sending blood spattering across the dirt while Caleb disappears into the crowd and lobs a beam of blue energy at the thing.  Nott, for her part, tries to copy Toya and begins to screech out a Zemnian tune Caleb and I taught her, but all she manages to do is draw the thing’s attention to her.  Realizing her mistake, Nott dashes into the crowd in an attempt to hide.

        Still grinning, Beau turns and yells, “guys, no, it’s part of the show.  Molly said that people die. She was just a claque.”  But then she turned and tried to grapple the thing but it manages to duck out of the way so she attacks it.  The madwoman straight up punches thing we all just saw tear into and eat an audience member and kick it in the chest, sending it stumbling back a foot.

        By now, the audience is pushing their way towards the exit, but it’s too small and creating a bottleneck.  Screams fill the tent joining the cries of children creating a deafening roar of chaos.  The people were panicking and were going to hurt themselves if we didn’t kill this thing quickly.  Even the guards are abandoning the tent, the cowards.  At my side, Molly watches as the woman snaps up, now covered in similar wounds to what had once been a man.  And then he’s gone, running up to flank the first creature and slicing his chest with one of his swords.  As soon as his blood touches the blade, ice crystals begin to form and he slashes wildly, hitting the creature.  Behind me, the woman turns to the still fleeing crowd and begins to stumble forward, looking at a little kid trying to push through.  I couldn’t be sure who else had seen her pop up besides Molly so I threw myself between the child and the woman, embedding my ax into her shoulder.  Behind me, I can hear yelling but I can’t distinguish voices, my attention solely on the woman in front of me.  Someone had to be between the crowd and this monster and with everyone else distracted, it had to be me.  

        The creature in front of me yanked herself back, dislodging my ax from her shoulder and tried to sidestep around me, reaching for the child that I could feel pressed against my legs.  Thrusting my left hand towards her face I blasted he back a few feet with a sickly green ray of light that crackled with dark energy.  Then I swung, my ax clutched in my right hand, for her neck.  In an instant, the silver blade of my ax cleaved through her neck and spinal cord, dislodging her head from her shoulders and sending it spinning into the air.  Across the tent Molly stared at me, Beau punching the first monster mercilessly until it died.

        Screams still echoed throughout the tent as I looked around trying to spot any other threat, but it seemed the was none.  Molly was still staring at me, his swords at his side, in what I couldn't decide was horror or fascination.  The Crown’s Guard were still trying to push through the panicking crowd, not realizing whatever attacked had been disposed of.  Out of pure instinct, I ran, rolling beneath the side of the tent and emerging into the night air, Trogal at my side a second later apparently having followed me.

        On my hands and knees, panting ever so slightly, I let the disguise fade away and pulled a rag out of my coat to wipe the blood off my ax before hiding it beneath my cloak.  I sat there for a moment, trying to catch my breath and come up with a plan.  I wasn’t stupid, there was going to be some sort of blame for what happened here tonight.  Most likely, the circus would be the source of blame which meant I needed to figure out just how to get them off the hook, but there was too much of a scene to be paid off discreetly - no, people were going to be jailed for this at the very least.  There was also the possibility Beau, Jester, Fjord, Caleb, or Nott could be blamed, but that was more easily fixed.  Still, they could all end up jailed.  Someone needed to be just a scared bystander that could walk around and not worry about being arrested.  Someone the guards hadn’t seen.

        A plan forming in my mind, I lay on the ground, snapped Trogal back to his pocket dimension, and peered in through the crack between the ground and the tent.  One of the Crown’s Guard is glaring at Molly and the rest of the group which now included Gustav.  Quickly, I cup my hand to my mouth, my wire ring pressed to my lips and I cast message.

        “It’s Fayde,” I whispered to Molly.  “I have a plan.  I wasn’t there, you saw me leave with the rest of the crowd.  Do not reply to this message.”  Quickly, I repeated the process for everyone else except Gustav and Caleb.  Gustav didn’t need a message for this to work.  To Caleb, I whispered, “I have a plan.  Everyone saw me leave with the crowd.  You don’t know where your little sister is.  You're panicked.  The others have been warned.  Do not reply.”

        I continued to lie there in the dirt, keeping an ear out for footsteps that sounded like they were coming my way, but none came.  I watched as the group talked, Jester apparently spooking the Crown’s Guard, and Beau trying to deescalate the situation as a whole.  I needed to wait until I was sure I couldn’t be linked.  It took about five minutes, but my chance arrived when ten Crown’s Guard file into the tent.

        Slowly, careful to not move the wall of the tent or make any sound, I roll away from where I lay and got to my feet.  Sucking in deep, fast breaths I forced my face to flush, my heart to speed up, and my eyes to water as I began frantically looking around at nothing.  Once I can feel the tears on my cheeks, I run a bit away from the tent in a wide arch so it looks like I am making my approach from the town and not the back of the tent.  Wrapping my arms around myself, I begin to call desperately for Caleb, making my way along the main road until I reach the front of the tent where two Crown’s Guards are standing, blocking the entrance. Good, I’ll get to make a proper scene.

        “Pl-Please,” I gasp, “my brother, I can’t find my big brother!”

        “Miss, you can’t be here,” the guard repeats, his tone still harsh.  More waterworks then.  

        “But, but I need t-to find hi-him,” I cry, holding myself tighter as if I might fall apart.  “Please, we-we were here and I lost him i-in the c-crowd.  He’s a-all I-I have.  Please, I need to find him!”  I begin sobbing in earnest now, loud hiccuping cries that         I know look absolutely pitiful.  “He, he was h-here!”

        The other guard crouches down a little so he is shorter than me and I wipe furiously at my eyes and sniff.  “What does he look like?”

        “Tall,”  I whimper.  “He’s, he’s got red hair and a beard an-and a brown c-coat.”

        The crouching guard stands and peaks into the tent where I know Caleb and the rest of the group are.  “I think he’s in there-”

        “Gods! Is, is he ok?  Can I see him?  Please, I, I’ve been so scared!”

        “Sure, go on in.”  The guard moves to the side and opens the tent flap as I begin thanking him profusely.  As soon as it’s fully open I stumble in like I was sore from being trampled and looked around wildly before spotting Caleb, sobbing, and bolting forward, crashing into him.  Yasha was missing from the tent.

        “Oh C-Caleb,” I sobbed, “I-I c-couldn't find you anywhere.”

        “Who’re you?”  I turned to stare with bleary eyes at the man who’d snapped at me.

        “H-his little sister,” I sniffed.  “We, we came to town and heard there was a c-circus and I-I wanted to see it.  But then when-when the little d-dwarf girl was singing this, this man started shouting and falling apart and, and, and…” Caleb crouched and took one of my hands in his and began rubbing it as though he were trying to comfort me.  “Molly told me to run,” I sniffed, “but when I got outside Caleb wasn’t with me and I couldn't see Molly or any-anyone else either.  I-I’ve been looking e-everywhere.”

        The whole show must have been convincing because the guard sighed and glared at my brother and the rest of the group.  Molly, picking up on the game, crouched down and hugged me, rocking me back and forth so I started to cry again, throwing my free arm around his neck.

        “My men tell me that the rest of you helped destroy these fiends. Is that correct?”  Everyone except Gustav and I gave a mumbled yes, Gustav because he wasn’t in the tent at the time of the attack and me because I couldn't have them know that I was.  “Then on behalf of the Starosta, I appreciate your aid.  But until this investigation is complete, you are all under investigation from us with the exception of the young Miss who just arrived.  Where are you staying?”

        “The Nestled Nook Inn,” Fjord said.  

        “Do not leave this city unless you are told otherwise. Should you do so, I have your names, and I can have the full might of the Cerberus Assembly track you down.  As of now, the investigation will begin.  If any information comes to light that could alleviate you of the charges brought to this carnival, come to me and let me know.  If you have no answers before we complete this investigation, then I believe you all will fall into the judgment.”  Jester and Beau grumble about being paid to help the first time and then being scolded for it the second time around, but Nott shuts them up as we are dismissed from the tent with the exception of Molly who I’m still holding onto.  “Remember, you flee, I’ll find you,” the guard says.

        “Are you going to be ok,” I whisper.  

        “Hopefully.”

        “Well, if they let you go, you know where to find us.”  I give Molly one last squeeze before I let him go and shuffle to Caleb’s side and snuggling in as close as I can, determined to keep up the image of the sniffling baby sister.    
Suddenly, a Crown’s Guard bursts into the tent, his breath huffing, sweat dripping from his brow, his eyes wild.          “Watchmaster!  The big woman is gone!  She’s gone!” 

        The Watchmaster turns to him and says, “You three, go with him. Search for her.” They all immediately run out back out the performer’s flap and he turns to the small cluster of carnies, “Shackle and drag those three down to the stockade.” All at once, five guards approach and begin to press Gustav, Bo, and Molly to the ground and begin to put chains and shackles on them.  Watching, my stomach clenches and I feel like actually crying.  Molly had nothing to do with this and I’ve seen too many people in this position to not begin to panic.

        “I’d like to make a counteroffer,” Molly grunts, looking up at me.  I meet his red eyes and nod ever so slightly, encouraging him to spit out whatever plan he’s cooking up, but the Watchmaster is still barking orders.

        “The rest of you keep an eye on the performers here. Ask around, see what you can find. As for the others, don’t go far.”

        “The innocent patrons, you mean,” Jester sneers, clearly unhappy with how the evening’s gone.

        “You may be innocent, in which case you have nothing to worry about. However, we have an investigation to complete so I would ask that you stay in the city and wait until you are called in.  You will be questioned, and until this investigation is completed, regardless of how long it may take, you are not to leave Trostenwald.”

        “If I could just contribute one word,” Caleb said, his arms wrapped firmly around me, “the forty or so people who are outside and the rest of us will vouch for this one, the colorful one. He saved many people’s lives, including my sister's. Don’t take my word for it. There’s everyone outside.”

        “Well, unfortunately, that is not for me to decide,” the Watchmaster huffs.  “The Lawmaster would have to be appealed to.  If you wish to come with us, we can bring you along with us to the stockade and you can speak with her.  Then, perhaps, she may grant you leniency, but I can give you no guarantee.”

        “Why don’t you just question us right now,” Beau frowns.  “I’m confused on why you don’t just do that now.”

        “Well, we could do that instead. We’ll have you arrested, put you in the stockade as we question the rest of you.”

        “No,” Jester squeaks, “let’s just go to the stockade.”

        “Yeah, we’ll all be in one place,” Fjord agrees.

        “We’re leaving.  The rest of you, stay in here.  Watch over the performers. Make sure nobody leaves.  Come if you wish.  Otherwise, we’ll be in touch.”  The Watchmaster gathers alongside the other five Crown's Guard, lifting up the shackles of the three that had been arrested and begin to drag them outside of the tent and into the night air.  

        As soon as the tent is empty I growl and yank myself out of Caleb’s arms.  “This is fucking bullshit, Molly didn’t do anything and neither did Gustav, I’ve been with them for hours!”

        “We’ll figure something out,” Fjord sighed.  “That was a good show, though - the one you just put on with the tears, where’s you learn how to do that?”

        “I worked in a circus for a bit, worked for another person a lot, just picked up the skill along the way.”

        “But I didn’t see you when we were fighting, Fayde.  There was a blonde elf lady that chopped off the other thing’s head,” Jester frowned.  “I thought you really left!”

        “Oh, no, that was a disguise spell, it gave me the opportunity to deny I was involved in anything.  I didn’t actually leave until I was sure both things were dead.”

        “My sister has a, uh, knack for slippery escapes,” Caleb said, the faintest grin tugging at the corners of his mouth.  “I’ve got Frumpkin following behind them, if we want to follow we need to get going.”  But Jester and Fjord were already out of the tent and Beau had disappeared as soon as the Watchmaster had dragged Desmond, Gustav, and Molly away.  Nott jumped on my shoulders and I wrapped an arm around Caleb to guide him as he slipped into Frumpkin so he could see the Watchman and the rest of his group.  The whole way I quietly work on welling the tears up again to play the sympathy card with the Lawmaster.

        The stockade is a large single-story, tall, rectangular building of large stones and masonry.  It’s clearly built for function like many things in the town rather than beauty, but it seems well made and defendable. The banners of the Crown’s Guard make the double-door entrance.  Before we go in, Caleb pulls himself from Frumpkin and I let Nott onto the ground so she can hold my hand and pretend to be a child.

        Just inside, to the right, is an office where the Watchmaster and the captive carnies stand in front of a stone desk where a tough-looking dwarven woman in her middle years is rapidly scrawling on parchment.  Apparently finished with what she was writing, she rolls the parchment up and hands it the messenger boy at her side who promptly dashes out of the building while she surveys the group in chains.

        “All right, what riff-raff have you brought in to me this day?”

        The Watchmaster takes the chains and roughly yanks the three men forward.  “Sorry to be a bother, but we have three individuals arrested in connection with, as you have heard so far, the deaths at the carnival performance this evening.”

        “All right, bring ‘em forward,” she grumbles, rolling her eyes.  “I am Norda.  It is my job to keep this city safe and keep shite like what happened tonight from happening.  I approved your second time on the outskirts of our town and you have killed two of my people.  What have you to say about yourselves?”

        “How did we kill them, exactly,” Molly asked.

        Norda the Lawmaster glanced at Molly then at Gustav.  “I have been told by my guard that you gave a performance, and as part of this performance you released two beasts into the midst of the population.”

        “Well, technically,” Jester said, standing on her tiptoes to see over the men in front of her, “he wasn’t part of the performance, technically he was saving everyone.  Technically.”

        “Thank you.  Yes, you see-” Molly begins, but Gustav cuts him off.

        “I’m so sorry, my liege.  Please, I take full responsibility for what happened this evening on myself.  These people around me had nothing to do with this. They are not part of the carnival, they were just merely helping. It is my carnival, and whatever judgment there lies, I take upon myself and my head.”

        “Gustav, what are you doing,” Bo frantically whispers.  

        “Shut. Up. Please, whatever judgment there is, put it upon me,” Gustav said, bending his head into as low a bow as he could manage while in chains.

        “Is that the case?  Is he the only one,”  She glares at Molly and Desmond, daring them to include themselves in the supposed crime.  

        To my surprise, Molly looks her dead in the eyes and says, “Oh, are you waiting for me to speak?  Yes, he’s the only one.”  The Lawmaster gives him a look, like she’s trying to prove him guilty by just glaring at him, but Molly had been firm in his conviction and so she turned to Bo who was just staring at the floor.  

        “Keep these two downstairs.  This one let go.  He seems to be free. We’ll be talking to you very soon.”  The Crown’s Guard drag the chains back and Gustav gives Molly a quick look under his eye and nods.  As they’re pulled out of the room, out of sight. She glances to Molly and says, “Well, you’re out of chains!  That’s great.  Doesn’t mean you’re absolved of the investigation. So, where are you staying?  You and your compatriots?”

        “Well, technically we just all met, technically.”

        “Well, technically, as far as I’m concerned, you’re all together as part of this investigation.”

        “Ma’am, if, if I may say something,” I sniffed.  For the first time, the Lawmaster spots me, blotchy skin and waterlogged, puffy eyes, clinging to my brother.  “I offered Molly to stay with my brother and me at the Nestled Nook Inn.  He saved me, ma’am, told me to run when that...that thing appeared and made sure I got out safe.”

        “While that is commendable, he’s still part of the investigation until further notice, Miss…?”

        “Widogast, ma’am.  Fayde Widogast.”

        “Well Miss Widogast, I trust you’ll stay out of trouble and keep an eye on your brother and his friends,” the Lawmaster said, a tight smile across her lips.  “You are all dismissed, goodnight.”

        “You too Lawmaster,” I smiled.  The remaining Crown's Guard, who’s left there to keep watch, escorts us out of the stockade and onto the street.  Once they turned and went back inside, Caleb summoned Frumpkin and I summoned Trogal, except while Frumpkin would himself around Caleb’s legs, I draped Trogal across Molly’s shoulders.  “He really does like you, you know, Molly.  I think he thinks you smell like home.”

        “You can summon an animal too?”  Fjord sounded exhausted.

        “It’s the only wizard spell I know,” I nodded proudly.  “The rest of my spells-”

        “Come on,” Caleb huffed, yanking my arm and dragging me towards the inn with Nott just behind,  “we have to talk about this.  We have to decide what we’re going to do.”

        “Right away,” Nott nodded trotting alongside him, not needing to be dragged.

        “Wait, wait, what about the others?” I desperately tried to dig my heels into the dirt, but Caleb kept pulling me along.  

        “Help. Help help help. Help help. Help help help.”  I craned my neck back to see Beau between two Crown’s Guard, shackled and being lead to the stockade like a wild animal as she shouted at Jester and Fjord.  “Help. I’m with you, I’m with you. Help help.”

        “Do you really want to get involved in that,” Caleb huffed, watching Beau be jerked along.  “Fayde, we need to leave.”

        “But, Caleb, if you leave you’ll have Crown's Guard looking for you everywhere!  They’d be in every town and city!”

        “Then we go back to the woods.  Fayde, this isn’t a decision for you to make-”

        “Like hell, it isn’t!  If you drag me and Nott out of this town, we’ll all get hunted down like fucking animals.  So what you don’t know those people?  You spent the day with them, do you really think they deserve the heat on them?  Fuck you, Caleb.  Fuck you and your fucking self-preservation bullshit.”  I yanked my arm out of his grasp.  “Go ahead back to the inn with Nott, I’m staying out here with Molly.”

        “So he is your friend now,” Caleb sneered.  “He’s just some carnie that’s looking for a quick buck, he wouldn’t care if it were you in his place, Fayde.”

        I stared at him for a moment in anger before spinning around and storming over to where Molly was leaning against the wall to the stockade.  He raised one perfectly arched eyebrow but didn't say anything beyond, “Jester and Fjord went to bail Beau out.”  I nodded and crossed my arms, to furious with Caleb to relax.  But Molly was right there, and he practically oozed calmness so I huffed and held out my hands.  

        “Let me see your wrists, those shackles couldn't have been comfortable.”  Molly didn't hesitate to hold his wrists out to me or make a sound as I gently inspected the flushed skin.  

        The manacles must have been old because his skin was torn and bleeding where the edges of the cuffs would have cut into him when he was being tugged along.  I couldn’t heal him with magic, I’d never been able to do anything even remotely close before, so I just dug into my purse and pulled out a tin about the size of a gold piece and unscrewed the lid.  The odor hit me all at once, strong medicinal herbs and oil blended together into a thick paste.  Using the corner of the s same rag I’d cleaned my ax with before, I rubbed the paste around his wrists as gently as I could before wrapping each with the last strips of bandaging I had in my purse.  

        “That’s about all I can do,” I murmured.  “Are you ok?  I know seeing people die isn’t exactly easy, at least not the first time or two.”

        “I’ll be alright, I’m just worried about the circus.  Gustav holds the whole thing together and if I can’t get him out…”

        “I’ll help you figure something out, Molly.  Who knows, I might even come with you after all.”

        “Is he that bad?”

        “Not always,” I sighed.  “He’s had a rough couple years and he’s got Nott to worry about on top of everything.  I just...my brother and I are very different people and we grate against each other too often.”

        “When this is over, and we get Gustave out, I would be more than happy to have you join us, Fayde.”

        “Danke, Süsser.  Thank you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh man, you guys, I love Caleb but sibling bickering is a thing, especially with two so very different people as Fayde and Caleb.


	3. Investigations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which the gang barks up basically all the wrong trees because they are baby adventurers.

        “Toya didn’t do anything,” Molly insisted as we followed Beau, Jester, and Fjord back to the tavern.  How Fjord and Jester managed to get Beau out of the stockade is a mystery to me.  I was sure we would have to come back in the morning and beg for her to be let go with absolutely no context about why we were doing so.  All Molly and I know is that when the three of them exited the stockade, they were talking about spasms and little dwarf sisters.  I never got to have that kind of fun with Caleb.  They were also back on the topic of blaming Toya for what had happened.

        “Yeah, if anything, we should be looking at this guy,”  Beau frowned, spinning around to address Molly.  “Why are we putting our neck out for you?”

        “You’re putting your neck out for Toya for some strange reason and I don’t know why, she’s perfectly capable of handling herself,” Molly sighed, his tail twitching in agitation.  

        “Have you ever been to this town before?”  Now, Fjord was getting in on the questions too, like he actually was considering blaming Molly who had been nothing but nice to him and his friends.

        “Not that I can remember. They all look the same after a while.”

        “You’ve come through once, but that was a while back and you weren’t really paying attention?”

        “Busy, yeah.”

        “Fjord,” I sighed, “if you travel with the circus long enough, everything gets kind of...blurry.  Performances and towns tend to blend together and it can be hard to remember what town you’re in while you’re actually in that town.”

        “Like you know,” Beau scoffed.

        “I said it before and I’ll say it again.  I worked with a circus for a while, I know what it’s like to have everyone turn on you if something goes wrong while you are in town because you’re the weird colorful people.  It happens!”

        “And neither of you’ve ever seen conditions like this affect any other carnival goer before?”

        “Nope.”

        “Nothing like this. Hundreds, possibly thousands of shows.  Yeah, thousands of shows. Nothing. Never. It’s not us,” Molly insisted.

        “So great! We’re stuck in a city that has zombie issues, that’s all,” Jester groaned.

        “Where are the other two?  The stinky one and the little one.”

        “You call them Stinky and the little one? All right,” Molly chuckled, although there was very little humor in it at all.

        “Fjord's not wrong,” I grin.  “They went back to the inn while you were getting Beau - wanted to have some talk or something.”

        “Do, do you and your brother not get along,” Jester asked.  “I thought siblings were supposed to be, like, super close and stuff.”

        “We, ah...Caleb and I had very different lives for a long time.  I only re-joined him about a year ago because I didn't want him wandering around on his own.  You know what we need?  Drinks.  I’ll get us some, go find a table!”  Before they could argue I scurried off to the bar where Yorda was cleaning a few glasses.

        “Oh, hello dearie, what can I do for you,” Yorda smiled.

        “I need six trosts and a glass of your hardest liquor, Miss Yorda.”

        “You just seem teh be havin’ a hard time, don’t you, dearie?”

        “Ja, I can’t seem to get a break,” I groaned.  “But it’ll be worth it, it always is in the end.”

        “There you go, just look at the bright side.  I’ll be over in a moment with your drinks.  I take it you’ll be with the group from this morning?”  I nodded, handed over three gold, and made my way back over to the table I’d seen Jester turn to only to see my brother and Nott amongst the group.  I really couldn’t catch a break, could I?

        “So where do you two come from?” My brother is hunched in his seat, his hands clasped together in his lap and I sigh.  It’s so easy to forget how hard it is for him to interact with people when he used to be so social.  I shouldn’t have been so hard on him earlier when he was probably just stressed and scared since this is the first town we’ve been in months.

        “Us two,” Jester asks.

        “Ja, you two with the horns.” Oh dear gods, Caleb, no.

        “Well, I don’t know where he comes from,” Jester huffs.  “You think we all come from the same place?  That was really inconsiderate.”

        “No, you are very different it’s very clear-”

        “He’s purple!”

        “She’s blue.”  Molly, for his part just seems amused.  Seeing me, he gestures to the seat between him and Caleb that he had apparently saved for me.

        “If you must know, I’m from Nicodranas,” Jester sighs just as the drinks are brought over.  “Oh, yay!  Do you have any milk?  I’ve just had this real craving for it lately!”  Yorda smiles, a bit confused, but assures Jester she can get her some milk.

        “I,” Molly said, snatching the Trost Jester didn’t want, “am from the circus.”

        “So you’re a traveler then,” Caleb sais.  

        “Oh yeah,” Molly nods.  “Quite a while.”

        “Since childhood?”  I shot Caleb a look that said he was asking too many questions.

        “Long as I can reasonably remember at the very least.  It’s been a while. It’s nice. I like it.  They’re good people. Work hard.”

        “You have a lot of scars.”  And he ignores me.

        “That’s a very funny story, actually.”  Except Molly isn’t smiling and his tail has started twitching again.  I gently nudge his leg under the table to let him know I’ll back him up.

        “I like funny stories,” Fjord smiles, leaning in.  “You did some crazy shit with that sword of yours.”

        “Buy me another drink and maybe you’ll get to hear the story then.  My mother always told me to never give a story away fro free,” Molly smirks, doing his best to throw Fjord off.  Thankfully, Beau does the job for him by rounding on my brother and continuing the conversation he must have tried to duck out of just before I got to the table.

        “None of this absolves the dodgy goblin who slinked past that first question.  Where are you from? What are you traveling from? Why the mask?”

        “Only because we seem to find ourselves in quite the predicament,” Fjord says, redirecting his attention to my brother and Nott.

        “We’re just a couple of friends, strolling around the countryside looking for adventure,” Nott shrugs.

        “Sure you are, and I didn’t kill a zombie with my fists.”

        “Do you see many goblins walking around cities here,” Caleb forces a laugh.

        “It has nothing to do with that.  People who move from place to place frequently tend to have other stories as to why they’re doing it.”  Beau certainly had a point and she knew it.

        “Well, let me make it clear: goblins are not typically welcome in any cities, that is why the mask,” Caleb explains.  The little vein at his temple sticking out a bit in frustration.  Caleb does what he can to keep Nott out of sight and out of mind from other people.

        “Well, you’re going back to the goblin thing.  I’m more curious about the travel thing,” Beau says, waving off Caleb’s attempt to distract from the other part of her question.  

        “We have a string of bad luck,” Nott cuts in, patting Caleb’s arm.  “We tend to get in trouble in places for various reasons.  Some of which is my fault - most of which is my fault.  I have sticky fingers, you see, and I can’t help myself sometimes. I’m fascinated by little bobbles and fancy pieces of jewelry and I love trinkets so much!  I just have to take them, and have them with me, and put them in my pockets.  It’s gotten us in a few scrapes a couple times.  Caleb, he is fantastic.  Very patient with me, understands.  But really it’s my fault; it’s not him.  He’s a smart man, a brilliant magician!  Have you seen?  Some of his tricks are phenomenal, really.”  At this, Molly shoots me a look and I shake my head.  I don’t want to get into Caleb and Nott’s whole relationship at the moment.  I take a long sip from my drink and redirect my gaze to the fire.  “I feel bad too because we never stay in one place long enough for him to have a decent shower.”  Everyone at the table laughs except me.  We aren’t in towns for more than a few hours, mostly to steal food if we can’t find anything in the woods.

        I keep my eyes trained on the fire, watching the flames flicker and dance.  In the back of my mind, different voices creep over the ones around me.  Screaming.  My mother crying as she’s crushed by a beam falling onto her.  My father yelling, telling me to jump out the window of my room because the front door has been completely engulfed in flames.  My hoarse whispers barely escaping my throat as I crawl my way across the lawn, my ankle bent and screaming in pain.  Laughter.  Crying.  Screaming.  So much screaming.  The spice of fire on my tongue, bitter smoke filling my eyes and lungs.  Flames licking up the side of my arm as my dress, a gift from Caleb, catches fire.  Caleb.  Why is he just standing there?  Why won't he do anything?  

        I go to take another sip of my drink except it’s empty.  When had I finished it?  I moved my hand to my coin purse and felt inside, thinking of the little rolled papers I had made last time I had enough time.  Five pop into my fingers.  I let four drop back into the purse and silently slip out the front door and around the side of the building.  I should make more soon.  Lighting the end takes a moment, I’m not any good at making fire like Caleb, but I have a flint that works well enough.  Perching on top of a barrel, I lift the roll to my lips and breathe in, letting the smoke fill my lungs, holding it for a moment, and slowly exhaling, watching as the smoke curls into the night sky.  It takes a bit, but eventually I relax, letting my head rest on the stone wall behind me, the ache in my side from last night dulling slightly into a small twinge and my mind fogging over with pleasant colors.  No fire, no yelling, no running.  Just pure relaxation.

        Gazing up at the moons, different sounds begin to fill my ears.  Violins, rowdy laughter, wagon wheels - but no one is around.  I am all alone in the alleyway gazing up at the stars through wisps of smoke curling from my mouth as I exhale.  Horse hooves, sales pitches, the din of a crowd going about their day in a busy market.  A warm, soft bed, spiced wine, my cards between my fingers sending familiar sparks traveling up my fingertips into my arms and shoulders.  It takes me a moment to realize I’m humming a tune I learned from an old sailor I met a few years ago.  He’s dead now.    
Once the small roll is gone, and there’s no sweet smoke left to inhale, I slip off the barrel and back into the tavern.  The only person inside is Yorda, the others must have gone to bed.

        “Hey, Yorda,” I sigh, leaning against the counter,  “you wouldn't happen to have another room would you?”

        “It’s less of a room, really,” she says, frowning.  It’s more of a closet with a mattress stuffed in it, would that do you?  All the proper rooms are taken.”

        “That actually sounds like exactly what I need.  How much?”

        “For you?  Free.  It’s the first door on the left, go on up and get some sleep, dearie,” Yorda smiled, handing me a key.  I smile back, wish her a pleasant evening, and slip up the stairs.  

        Just as Yorda said, the room looks like it had once been a closet, but the mattress looks thick enough that I can’t bring myself to wish for the proper room I could have shared with Caleb.  Locking the door behind me, I have just enough space to strip off my clothes and fold them at the foot of the mattress by the door.  Absentmindedly, I flop onto the makeshift bed, wrap myself in the thin, moth-eaten blanket, and snap my fingers willing Trogal to appear.  My mind still hazy and Trogal curled up at my side, I drifted off into a dreamless sleep.

><><><><><

        I wake up before the others the next morning, a little stiff but less sore than before.  Just as I had yesterday morning, I slip downstairs, wash my face and hands as best I can with a bucket of water, make the trip to refill said bucket for the other patrons of the inn, and order breakfast.  This morning I choose the table right next to the window despite the frost curling along the glass.  I’m halfway through my breakfast by the time Molly descends the stairs rubbing the sleep from his eyes and adjusting his horn jewelry.  Seeing the lavender tiefling, Trogal bounces off the seat next to me and trotted over, winding between his legs and yipping at him for attention.

        “You disappeared last night,”  Molly said, taking the seat immediately to my right and draping his arm across the back of my chair.  “Don’t think I missed you getting all spacy and then leaving.”

        “I just needed a few minutes-”

        “You didn't come back in until we were all upstairs.  I was watching from behind the door to Fjord’s room - look at me, Fayde - you looked like shit.  Was it the fight at the circus?  Your argument with Caleb?”

        “Not...not entirely.  I think I just needed a little separation from everything, you know?  Really, Molly, I’m fine.”  I did my best to make my smile look real, but I doubt he believed me.  Still, he didn't push the issue any further and ordered breakfast when Adelaine came to take my now empty plate.  “So, who’d you stay with?”

        “Fjord, the man snores worse than Kylre!  I almost gave up a few hours in and went to go see if I could stay with you but then I figured I’m already on some pretty thin ice with everyone else.”

        “I’m sure they will realize whatever happened wasn’t anything you or the circus did intentionally, Molly.  And besides, this whole investigation thing will probably be over within a week and you’ll be free to go wherever you want with the circus again.”

        “You mean we will be able to,” Molly grinned.

        “Ja,” I nodded, a small smile creeping across my face,  “we will.  Do you think Gustav would let us perform outside of Zadash?  I haven’t been there in a while now...”

        “Isn’t Zedash a big city?”

        “Well, ja, but I could get us in no problem.  And besides-”

        “Am I too late?  Did I miss it?”  Suddenly Jester was in front of me, her face so close to my own I was sure I was cross-eyed just trying to look at her.

        “Er, miss what, Jester?”

        “The reading!  You said you do a reading every morning and I want to watch!”  

        Molly leaned back in his chair, when had he gotten so close, as I chuckled and dug into my coat pocket.  This one didn't have nearly as many pockets as the one I had at home, but it was functional and looked more like something a poorer traveler might wear.  Pulling out my cards, I vaguely registered Caleb and Nott sitting on the other side of the table, plates heaped with breakfast.

        “Alright, Jester, you can watch.  I really should tell you though, there isn’t much to see.”

        “Oh, are you doing your card thing?”  Nott looked slightly amused with a piece of bacon sticking out of her mouth.  “It’s not real magic, you know, Jester.  It’s just a trick she likes.”

        “Ignore the goblin, Jester, she’s just mad because last time I gave her a reading I pulled the Ten of Swords and she almost got shot in the head by a Crown’s Guard an hour later,” I sighed.  “Now, I shuffled my cards yesterday but I always shuffle again right before I do a reading to make sure everything is fresh.”  I began passing the old cards between my fingers in one hand while I took a sip of coffee.  “You should know true readings aren’t very common for various reasons - people aren’t connected to the right magic, their minds are busy with other matters that distract them, or they haven’t found the right medium.  I happen to be best with cards and in a pinch, I can use bones, but I haven’t had to do that in a while and I much prefer my cards.  Now, what I like to do in the morning is a simple linear reading so I can be mindful of everything around me focusing first on my past, then my present situation, then my future.”  Satisfied my cards had been thoroughly shuffled, I let my fingers dance along the worn deck until the familiar spark of energy surged up my arm.  I set the first card face down and repeated the process twice more so I could flip them in order for Jester to see.  Except when I flipped them, I was confused.

        The Tower.  The Moon.  Death.

        “Oh, death, that’s not good,” Jester said, poking the card.  

        Absently, I swatted her hand away and shuffled the cards back into my deck and began to shuffle them again.  After a moment, I drew again only to pull the same three cards.

        “Molly, would you…”  Molly frowned, took my cards, and began to gingerly separate the major and minor arcanas before shuffling them together again.  The whole time he was very careful not to be too aggressive in his movements so he didn't bend the cards since he knew just how old they were.  “Thank you, darling.”

        Clearing my mind and narrowing my focus took a moment, but I eventually plucked three cards from my deck.  The Tower.  The Moon.  Death.

        “See, I told you, a trick,” Nott grinned.  Jester looked disappointed, obviously believing Nott that this was a party trick and not the “real” reading Molly had produced for her yesterday.

        Molly, on the other hand, looked as confused as I felt.  “Here,” he murmured, “try mine.”

        So I did.  I spent several minutes handling his cards and getting to know them.  They were slick and a little thin, their ink more vibrant.  This was a newer deck, and unless I missed my guess, it couldn’t be older than two years.  Letting the cards slip through my fingers individually, the pit of my stomach began to warm and my back grew cold, a familiar shift in arcane energy I was not particularly fond of when it came to my long coveted tarot deck.  Most everyone was talking about how to leave the inn without getting in trouble, but Molly and Beau’s eyes were trained on me.  Slowly, I drew three cards.  The Tower.  The Moon.  Death.  Different cards, different feel, same result.

        Slightly dazed, I handed Molly back his deck and downed the rest of my coffee, but the heat it should have sent spreading through my body never arrived.  I felt cold; like I had been brushed by fire and nothing else in its wake could compare to the warmth it could have provided.  It was a feeling I disliked more than the shifting of decks.

        “Are you alright,” Molly whispered. 

        “Ja, ja I will be fine.  I just do not usually get such a, er, well I don’t usually have repeat readings two days in a row.”

        “Then maybe you’re on the right path, hm?”  Under the table, Molly’s hand squeezed my own as he leaned closer to whisper in my ear.  “You should know, dear, that your eyes were black when you were reading.  I’ve watched your brother perform a few spells and his eyes did nothing of the sort.”

        “That is because, mein Süsser, my brother had to study for his magic - mine is a natural ability,” I whispered back.

        “Do either of you have an idea of how to get out of here?”  Looking up, Fjord and the rest of the table was looking at myself and Molly.

        “I could, well I could use a spell on Molly so he would look like a different person,” I offered.  

        “You...why didn't you say you could do magic?”  Molly was beside himself with laughter as Fjord tried desperately to catch up with the information.

        “I mean, I told you all last night I used a disguise spell,” I frowned.  “Jester was all like ‘wait I thought you left cause there was a blonde elf lady’ and I was like ‘nein that was a spell’.”

        “Well, why didn’t you say anything last night when we were talkin’ about magic,” Fjord huffed.

        “I was outside,” I shrugged.  “The only person who realized I wasn't there was Molly.”  Which was bullshit because Caleb should have noticed too, but he was probably showing off his wizard skills.

        “Anyway,” Caleb said, drawing everyone's attention back in, “why shouldn’t we just wait for it all to blow over?  We didn’t do anything.”

        “I tend to find these things don’t blow over necessarily as more they just eventually decide someone’s guilty and take their revenge on them,” Molly shrugged.  “Damn - hey Adelaine can we get more coffee?”

        “Don’t yell, it’s not nice,” I scold, getting up.  “You guys argue some more and I’ll get more food.  What does everyone want?”

        “Nonsense, dear, it’s their job-”

        “It. Is. Not. Polite. To. Yell. At. Staff.  It just gets them to spit in your food.”  A little sheepish, Molly gives me his order and the rest of the group follows suit.  “Ok, give me a few minutes.  You all figure out the day.”

        Adelaine ended up bringing me back into the kitchen so I could help put together everyone’s plates because she was just as frantic this morning as she had been yesterday.  A few regular customers gave me odd looks as I bounced between my group’s table and the kitchen, but most of them decided to ignore me.  Everyone else decided I was a new member of the staff and starting yelling at me for food.  I wasn’t offended or anything by this and simply went on taking orders and retrieving food, making sure to keep running lists of tabs in my head so when a table was about to leave I could swoop in an collect whatever coin was owed.  I slipped into the rhythm easily, weaving between tables and balancing food along my arms while trying not to spill drinks on myself.  This had been another one of my jobs once upon a time and my body remembered all the fine points of navigating moving bodies while weighted down with food and drink.

        Yorda and Adelaine threatened to pay me if I insisted on helping though, so I negotiated the price down from a few silver to my room and a cup of coffee waiting for me in the morning for as long as I stayed at the inn.  It wasn’t hard to get them to agree.

        By the time the inn’s calmed to the point where Adelaine isn’t constantly running and being overworked, everyone is ready to go.  Fjord is disguised as an older man with white hair, Jester as a blonde human woman, Beau as a man with an interesting take on a light beard, and Molly as what I am assuming was supposed to be a human but he is so shrouded in black it’s a bit hard to tell.  Yorda and I watch, amused, as everyone leaves the inn while trying to be completely inconspicuous.

        “They are a weird bunch, aren’t they,” Yorda chuckles.

        “Ja, they have no clue what they are doing,” I grin.  “We’ll be back later, have a pleasant day!”  

        I exited the inn without difficulty, smiling to the guards as I went.  Eventually, I spot the group huddled together a few blocks down and out of the sight of the Crown's Guard guarding the Nestled Nook Inn.

        “Should we walk toward the carnival where the zombies were,” Jester was asking.

        “Jester, my darling,” I smile, putting a hand on her shoulder, “leave the zombie talk for now.  What you should be asking is who the man was before he became a zombie.”

        “Oh, right.  We should find out where he’s from.  How do we do that?  Should we ask around and say ‘Hey, anybody know where the old guy came from that turned into a zombie?’”

        “Maybe not in such direct terms,” I wince.

        “Seems to be the most appropriate thing to ask at this point, though,” Molly sighed.

        “Well, we could find some public places and just gossip a bit,” Caleb suggested, “see if anybody has heard of him, or if a friend has died at the circus last night.”

        “I mean, you mentioned no sick people.  If he was sick, sometimes that word gets around,” offered Beau.  

        “And where better for word to get around than a market!”  Jester seemed very pleased to have come to the conclusion so we all made our way to the little market near the center of town.  

        Like any small town, the market is not overly impressive.  There are a few stands selling general wares, like simple clothing and blankets, that were hand made and not able to be sold in shops.  A handful of vendors still had decent looking vegetables, a some even had entire small animals, stripped of their pelts.  People milled about, but even so, it could not even begin to compare to the yelling and bustling bazaar I was accustomed to.  Still, with a town so small we were able to find just enough information on the man who became a zombie to learn that his name had been Enon Brinjay.  Enon had been in his early eighties, but from what we were able to gather, he had been fairly healthy for a man of his age considering he was a human.  Overall, it seemed he had not been very well known, having retired some time ago and really only venturing out of his home to earn small amounts of coin by helping the fishermen move fish to and from the outside of the lake.  About the most well-known thing about Enon Brinjay was that he often drank at The Old Mud Hole Tavern.  Other than that, however, it seemed Enon was just another faceless villager.

        “I should point out this is the second connection to the Ustaloch,” Fjord murmured as we munched on some jerky I had bought from one of the stalls after Nott began looking like she might steal it.

        “The what,” asked Molly.

        “The lake here, it’s called the Ustaloch.  Anyway, before we met up with you all, Jester, Beau, and I fought off a wicked, sick water snake,” Fjord explained.

        “It came up out of the lake for some reason, but we don’t know why,” Jester explained.

        Molly and I shared a look.  “Is this a metaphor or is this actually a real thing?”  Apparently, Molly had been thinking the same thing as me.  I grinned at him and he winked.

        “It really happened!  I almost died!”

        “I punched a snake to death,” Beau smiled.  “And I punched a zombie to death.  Heh.”

        “There were the snakes in the circus last night, but it wasn’t related to the attack, I suppose,” Nott sighed.  I handed her another piece of jerky to keep her happy.

        “I think they would be a little different, Schatz,” Caleb frowned.  I couldn’t help but flinch a little at the name Caleb had adopted for Nott - it wasn't bad or anything, really it was quite sweet, but it sounded odd falling from his lips.  “How long of a snake are we talking about?”

        “Oh gee,” Beau huffed, “it was a giant water snake.  Apparently, people were complaining about more and more instances of these snakes coming out of the lake.”

        “And this fellow who died worked with the fishermen in the lake, ja?”

        “Well, he took some jobs with them, but no one I talked to knows if he was actually working yesterday before the carnival.”

        “Well,” I sighed, “I think it would be a good idea to check out Enon’s old watering hole - talk to the barkeep and any regular patrons.  Bars tend to be better than markets for this type of information.”  
“You’ve done this before.”  Fjord isn’t asking.  His set jaw and tense shoulders tell me what I need to know - he doesn't like that I know how to find information on people so easily.  “Who are you?”

        “Just Caleb’s little sister,” I shrug.  “Now, I suggest we move on to  the Old Mud Hole and poke around a bit more.”  Fjord didn’t like my answer, and by the look of her, Beau didn't either, but without a good reason to do anything other than what I had suggested, we all made our way to the bar Enon had been going to.

        The bar is on par with what I expected.  The Old Mud Hole is a dark dive of a bar with four rickety tables and one customer - an older man with scraggly hair and gnarled hands playing solitaire with a man in his thirties thumbing through a book.  Unless I missed my guess, this would be the bartender.  The heavy scent of old, wet wood, ale stains, and peanut were wonderfully familiar.

        “Can I help you?” The barkeep calls, looking up from his book.  “Are you looking for drinks? Can I get you anything?”

        “Ja, I would really love a drink,” Caleb said, taking the seat next to him, eyeing the cards on the table.  “What do you have? I need something heavier than a Trost. I’ve had enough Trosts to last me a lifetime.”

        “We have liquor.”

        “And I will take your liquor.”

        “I will get some whiskey for you then. Whiskey, everyone?”  The bartender ducked behind the bar and pulled out a bottle.

        “Sure,” Beau says, leaning against the bar.

        “Two please,” Nott beams, hopping up on the chair between the old man and Caleb.

        “It’s okay.  She’s my daughter.  She loves whiskey,” Jester smiles seeing the bartender look at Nott questioningly.  “I let her have any whiskey she wants.”

        “We’ve been doing a pub crawl,” Molly smiles.  The bartender nods a bit like this is an acceptable excuse, but he probably just doesn't care enough to worry about giving whiskey to a little kid.  

        “All right, that will be eight silver for the batch,” the bartender says, setting several glasses on the faded counter and filling them with the amber liquid.    Caleb and Jester pick up the tab as everyone takes their glasses.  I sniff mine before handing it to Nott, I can get better liquor over at the Nestled Nook.

        Caleb lets a few moments pass before speaking again.  “Honestly, it’s been a terrible 24 hours. We were at the circus last night and I did not know him well, but old man Brinjay fell.”

        “Enon,” the bartender grunts, not looking up from his book.  “It’s sad to see him go and many of us were wondering what day it was going to be.”

        “Did you know him,” I asked, leaning against the counter.  “I only met him the once, but he was quite nice.”

        “He came in here most every day to drink.  He was a lonely man.”

        “It was a terrible way to go. I’m sorry,” Caleb sighed, sipping his drink.

        “Doesn’t bother me one way or the other. Just sad to lose a patron.”

        “Do you know who was talking to him the day of the carnival?”  Jester hadn’t touched her drink and I noticed she too had handed over to Nott who was sipping away happily, one glass already empty.

        “I don’t recall.  Sometimes he would tell stories to whoever was willing to listen and, uh, not most were willing to listen.”

        “Was he here yesterday,” Fjord asked, his own glass half-empty.

        “I think he came in briefly for a drink before the carnival, but that was it.”

        “You know, we should drink to old stories of Brinjay,” Beau grinned, raising her glass and knocking it back.

        Molly mimics her, managing to suppress the grimace that had begun to pull at his lips.  “What did the man drink out of curiosity?  What was his final drink?  I’m a bit of a macabre person myself.”

        “You just had it.”  The bartender finally looked up from his book, beginning to catch on to what we were doing.

        “I’ll take one more, then,” Molly smiled, “for Enon.”  The bartender nodded, refilled his glass, and took the two silver I flipped him since Molly didn’t have any money.

        “I heard he was sick, too,” Caleb frowned, moving one of the old man’s cards.

        “I don’t believe he was ill, at least I hope not.  He seemed to be rather wasting away.  You shouldn’t be doing so much manual labor at that age.”

        “What labor was he doing,” Nott asked, her second glass empty and her third almost finished.

        “He carries stuff around from small tasks to the docks, up at the North Ward.  He carried crates, boxes - just odd jobs, ways to get by ‘til the end of his days, which now that they’ve come, may he rest and not have to do odd jobs ever again.”

        “Do you know who he was doing odd jobs for that day,” Jester asked.

        “We’ve been talking about putting together a little memorial for him, you see,” I added, “and knowing who he worked for might help us.”  

        “And I’m sure his family will miss him very much,” Caleb hedges.

        If he said when he was working for, I didn't catch it.  As far as family goes, there’s nobody nearby.  He had a son about thirty-five years ago, but he got married and went up north.”

        Half an hour later, we left the Old Mud Hole with fewer answers than we wanted, but at least we had some answers.  Caleb had managed to find somewhere to buy books, something he had been looking for since we got to town, and he seemed marginally happier for it, letting Nott ride on his shoulders.  Nott had ended up with five glasses of whiskey and so far she was holding up pretty well, but there was always a chance she would start making a scene if one of us didn't keep a close enough eye.  Molly, for his part, had taken to interrogate the old man when he realized we weren't getting anywhere with the bartender.  All he’d gotten out of the conversation was some rude remarks regarding both him and the circus.  If I didn’t think I’d get us thrown out I would have made it very clear how little I cared for both the racism and his attitude.  

        Eventually, we made our way to the home of the man Jester, Fjord, and Beau had been working for previously since they thought he may be able to give us information about Enon.  Here, we got even less information than we did at the Old Mud Hole, but no news was, oddly enough, good news.  Enon seemed like a completely random target.  Granted, that just made whatever turned the man into a zombie all the more dangerous.  Up until this point I had been fairly calm about the whole thing, I had seen stranger things, but now I couldn’t ignore the possibility that this whole town could be at risk and not just a certain demographic.    

        On our way back to the Nestled Nook, I lagged behind a bit so that I slowly separated from the group.  I didn't think anyone noticed my departure so I ducked into a gap between buildings and crouched behind a crate so no one passing by would immediately see me.  Jester and Beau had been talking about the Crown’s Guard being connected, but Jester wasn’t from the Empire and Beau seemed like the type to blame authority whenever she got the chance.  I, on the other hand, knew the Crown’s Guard couldn’t be involved in this whole mess besides attempting to investigate.  I knew too many people in the Guard, had spent too many years watching them and learning their motives, to begin to doubt their position in this town.  The Guard were meant to protect the people, if it got out they were involved in dark magic like this every one of them would be arrested and persecuted.  No, I was sure the Crown’s Guard were in the same position as us - confused and trying to solve whatever mystery was unfolding.

        This meant, of course, that there was only one group to look at.  As much as I wanted to believe the circus had nothing to do with what had happened, everything was just a little too convenient to not look at them.  At some point, I would have to go talk to them about the whole thing, but before I did I had someone else I could reach out to.  Focusing on the pendant dangling from the choker around my neck, I reached out into the expense of magic that swirled inside of me and pictured a face in my mind.

 _“Papa,”_  I whispered in Zemnian,  beginning to count the words,  _“stuck in Trostenwald.  Strange attack.  Need information about what can turn people into zombies.  Could be_ _monster_ _or person.  Time is important.  Love you.”_   It took a few minutes, but soon enough a smooth voice whispered into my ear words only I could hear.

 _“I will have people look.  I do not know right now.  Give me a few hours and I might know.  Love you, Treasure, stay safe.”_  Smiling, I got up and exited the small alleyway and made my way back to the Nestled Nook where I was sure the rest of the group was already waiting.  

        Somehow, Molly was the only person in the main hall when I arrived.  He was trying to remove the hood he had been keeping over his head, but it looked like the fabric had caught in his horns and jewelry.  Wordlessly, I swatted his hands away and began to untangle the mess he had managed to make worse with his fussing.  Several of the chains had knotted themselves and gotten caught in his hair so the process was a bit slow, but I managed to detangle everything without too much pulling.

        “Fjord thinks you are up to something,” Molly says once I’ve finished.  “He isn't a fan of your disappearing act, though he took a while to realize you had left us again.  Where did you go this time?”  There wasn’t any judgment to his tone, just simple curiosity, and amusement.

        “Fjord also dislikes how I know what to do in these sorts of situations, he doesn’t trust me and I haven’t given him much of a reason to,” I sigh.  “Granted I think he only trusts Beauregard and Jester since they are the ones he is traveling with at the moment.”

        “You, my dear, are avoiding my question,” Molly grinned, his tail thwacking against my leg, “where did you run off to?”

        “Nothing escapes your keen eye, does it, Mollymauk,” I chuckle.  “I went to send a message to a friend of mine.  I like to keep them updated on where I am in case of...let’s say an emergency.”  Molly nods and doesn't bother to push the topic as the others would.  “What do you think about this situation, while it is just the two of us?”

        “Well, I don’t trust the Crown’s Guard or the people.  Everyone’s just a little too - what is the word I’m looking for here?”

        “Racist?  Prejudice?  Back watery?”

        “Yes,” Molly chuckles, “all those things!  What about you?  I see you watching everyone, see that brain of yours picking apart everything anyone says.”

        “Ah, well, you would too if you lived as I have,” I smiled.  Molly’s tail had gone from thwacking against my leg to curling and uncurling loosely around my ankle and calf.  I couldn't help but enjoy the slight pressure and warmth seeping through my pant leg. “I know you don't like them, but the Crown’s Guard aren’t involved in this, their job is making sure the people are protected.  There’s actually a chance they could get in trouble for this whole debacle if they can't figure out who is responsible.  I also highly doubt any of the people living in town have enough magic to do anything like what we saw.  Maybe a handful of people in town can do cantrips or very low-level magic, but nothing so powerful.”

        “So you think it’s our fault,” Molly bites out.  His tail leaves my leg and begins to twitch in agitation.  

        “I think we need to talk to whoever’s left at your carnival and see if they saw anything we missed.  We may have had a good view of the show, but anyone who performed got to see everything else.  I don't want it to be anyone from the carnival, Molly, I really don’t, but it’s the only avenue that we haven't explored yet.  You were busy all day, anything could have happened.”  Molly huffed, leaning back in his chair and glaring at the table as if it had done something to offend him.    
I watched Molly’s sharp jaw clench and unclench as he tried to run through all of yesterday in his head, searching for anything that could be useful.  He looked so angry and lost, at odds with what was in front of him and what he wanted to believe.  I knew the feeling well.

        “Okay,” he sighed, his head falling forwards to rest in his hands.  “We’ll suggest going to the carnival.”

        “It’s the best chance we’ve got of getting us all out of here, Molly,” I said.  “Whoever did this, they aren't your friend.”  Slowly, Molly’s tail wound itself back around my leg, a little tighter than before.  Hesitantly, I wasn’t sure if it was polite in the slightest, I reached down and ran my hand along the smooth muscle, feeling the slight ridges along it.  “For what it’s worth, Süsser,” I whispered, leaning a little closer like I was letting him in on a very important secret, a smile tugging at the corner of my lips as I met his red eyes, “I think you’re the farthest thing to a devil I have ever met.”


	4. The One Responsible

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Molly does more of the Tail Thing (TM), the gang realize who has been fucking shit up, and Jester uncovers a sliver of backstory by being Jester.

        It is later in the afternoon before Fjord, Jester, and Beau slip down the staircase from the upper floor with Caleb and Nott in toe.  Molly and I had spent the afternoon munching on leftover bacon Adelaine had slipped us and playing different card games with a deck Yorda lent us when we explained Molly wasn’t technically supposed to leave the inn.  It was the most relaxing afternoon I had had since rejoining Caleb.  We had talked a bit about random things like some of the finer points of working in the circus and some of our more interesting encounters along our travels, though I couldn’t share my real favorites because no one was supposed to know about them.  We had also started another sort of game where we made up life stories for different patrons.  The halfling man in the corner bent over a steaming mug became a wizened traveler, weary from his latest adventure that involved the murder of his lover after discovering that she was an evil seductress.  The elf sitting directly in front of the fire was quickly assigned the title Hearth Keeper since he was obviously a being as old as the gods themselves and his purpose was to bring warmth and hospitality to the lowly people of the material realm.  

        We likely should have been discussing the problems at hand rather than relaxing, but I think we both wanted to ignore everything for at least a little bit.  It was a shame when the rest of the group decided to show up and pull us back into the real world.

        Currently, they are discussing sneaking out of the window in Caleb’s room to investigate some shady people in cloaks Nott had seen a few nights ago.  Frankly, I thought it was a waste of time so I continued playing cards with Molly who seemed to share the same opinion.  Even so, we found ourselves crowded in Caleb and Nott’s room just after midnight while Beau tied off one end of a scrap piece of fabric to the door handle and the other end to the leg of a chair so we would know if anyone entered the room while we were away.  I doubted the Guard would come in the middle of the night, but it made everyone else feel a little better so I didn't say anything.  Caleb, for his part, puts up his magical silver wire that would alert him if it was tripped.

        I made sure I was the first one out the window since I could leave the building without any of the Guard getting mad and scope out the front street.  Ignoring the rope Fjord had tied off, I crawled out the window and let my body drop into a roll in the dirt below without any sound.  From behind me, Beau gave an impressed whistle.  It is only as I peak around the corner to see if I can spot any Crown’s Guard that I realize that this whole night-time excursion is a very bad idea on my part.  No one had questioned it yet since the circus fiasco had kept everyone distracted, but at night I was a little less hindered than I was during the day.  If I didn't want to tip anyone off, especially Fjord who already did not trust me, I was going to have to be very careful and deliberate in everything I did in sight of the others.

        Assuring everyone that we were good to exit the small alleyway, we made our way north of the inn to where Nott had seen what she considered ‘prime suspects’.  Nott lead the way along the road since she knew where she was going and I stuck to the very back of the group, periodically ducking into an alley, waiting a moment or two, and checking that no one was following before rejoining the group before they even realized I had left.  Without the sun beating down on me, I had to monitor my pace and keep it slow enough to not raise any suspicion.

        Being past one in the morning, the only sounds in the street were the distant cricket song and Caleb’s less than stealthy footfalls, although as a group we were doing fairly well at being silent.  The cold night air catches our breath every time we exhale, turning into a small white cloud before dissipating into the dim light.  Everyone except Jester, Mollymauk, and I have bundled themselves in their coats and cloaks as the air nips at their skin.  I suspected that, like me, the cold would not begin to bother the tieflings in our group for another month or so yet.  Eventually, we reach a small ally just north of a shop called Natural Remedies.

        “Should we fan out a bit?  Cover a couple corners, so we can still see each other?”  Nott is rubbing her hands together, and if I did not need to keep my arms covered, I would have given her the fingerless gloves I always wear so could be a little warmer.

        “I think that’s a good idea, Nott,” Fjord whispers and Jester nods, latching onto his arm.  Molly and Caleb both look to me asking the same question, should I go with them.  I was sure Caleb was going to go with Nott so I wasn’t particularly worried about his being caught, but Molly had so far been fairly perceptive around me and in this moment I was unsure if I wanted him to make any new observations.  Caleb had told me many times even tieflings would be put off if they saw me in the night.  Still, Molly felt comfortable, and his tail had begun to wrap around my boot so I scooched a little closer to him.  

        Eager to be out of sight, I point Molly towards a few crates stacked on the side of one of the buildings and we scramble up them and onto a rooftop, me with a little more ease than should have been possible.  In the street below, the occasional Crown’s Guard passes, but as we wait for an hour, two hours, nearly three hours, nothing else crosses our line of sight.  From where we are on the roof, Molly and I watch the moon more than we watch the street, Molly’s tail wound comfortably around my leg as I leaned slightly against his shoulder.  In a hushed whisper, I tell him a story my mother had often told me as a small child.  

        The story began with four young men who came from a land where no light appeared in the night once the sun had set.  The men, in their travels, eventually came to a town where a bright orb gave off light once the sun disappeared and guided the people in the night.  Deciding to steal it for themselves, the four men spirit it away to their own land where they hang it in a high oak and care for it until they become old.  But, as the men die, each demands a quarter of the orb, it was called the moon, be buried with them once they died until the land became dark once more and the townspeople once again had no light to guide them in the night if they did not carry lanterns.  When, however, the pieces of the moon had united themselves together again in the world below, where darkness had always prevailed, it came to pass that the dead became restless and awoke from their sleep. They were astonished when they were able to see again; the moonlight was quite sufficient for them, for their eyes had become so weak that they could not have withstood the brilliance of the sun. They rose up and were merry, and fell into their former ways of living. Some of them went to the theater and to dance, others rushed to the taverns, where they asked for wine, got drunk, brawled, quarreled, and at last took up weapons, and battled each other. The noise became greater and greater, and at last, reached even to the gods above.  The Raven Queen, angered upon seeing what was transpiring in the mortal realm, sent her greatest emissary to the material realm.  There, her servant forced the dead into submission and commanded them to lie down in their graves again lest they anger his Mistress any more than they already had, took the moon away with him, and hung it up in the sky for all the living to see.

        Molly listened patiently as I told him the story, a small smile displaying the very tips of his pointed teeth.  This, sitting here and just talking beneath the moon, was safe.  It did not require caution beyond keeping a low voice, nor did it have to be anything beyond what it was.  Another simple moment in a much more complex web.

        Below, I can see Nott and Caleb sneaking over to where Jester, Beau, and Fjord had been crouching.  They whisper to each other for a moment before Nott’s voice whispers in my ear, almost as if she were standing just behind me.

        “They aren’t coming and Caleb hasn’t felt his alarm spell trigger.  What does Molly think we should do?  You can respond to this message.”  I snicker at her reminder she tags onto the end of every message cantrip despite how many times we use it.

        “Molly and I think we should go to the circus, it’s the only place left for answers.  We will be right down,” I replied before relaying the message to Molly who sighed and sat up from where he had been lying.  Thankfully, Molly’s boots don’t make too much noise as we climb down from the roof.  
“Fayde,” Caleb whispers, catching my arm as I make to slip to the back of the group, “you go first and let Fjord watch our backs.”

        I do not want to do what Caleb asks, what I want is to smack him in the head and say I need to be in the back, but I clench my jaw and slink ahead.  In the back I can try to cover our tracks if I need to, can slip away and move without having to be overly cautious, but in the front, I cannot do either of those things, just watch the street ahead and listen to the very obvious footsteps behind me.  It takes every ounce of willpower I have to not slip away into the darkness and disappear entirely into the night.  I had not liked living in the woods, but at least then it had been just Caleb and Nott and neither of them cared if I was less human once darkness overtook the world around us.  Now, however, I was illuminated by street lamps and in front of six other people, four of whom knew nothing about what I ached so badly to do.  

        It is only my connection to the darkness that warns me of the pair of Crown’s Guard before the torchlight announces their presence.  I barely manage to hiss a warning, slipping soundlessly into a small alcove to my right before the one of the Guards calls out.

        “Who goes there?”  Caleb, who had been just behind me whispers a spell and becomes a Crown’s Guard to accompany Fjord who has also assumed a similar appearance.  Jester darts a few feet into the lake on our left and crouches down, Molly pulls up his black hood too far away for me to have pulled him with me.  Nott though, Nott removes her mask, slips it into the depths of her cloak, bears her fangs, and begins to attack Caleb.  Really, it was the best defense mechanism she had at the moment and it would help distract from the now soggy Jester and not very well hidden Mollymauk.

        “Oh get off, you little beast!” Caleb groans in false pain as Nott tears at him with her claws, never doing anything more than lightly scratching his ‘armor’.  Still, the Crown’s Guard draw their short swords and rush forward to help the men who they think are their comrades.  Caleb is not as gentle in his display and actually slams Nott into a wall as he spits, “Down you beast!”

        As would be expected, one of the Crown’s Guard swings down with his blade to try and kill Nott, but she squeaks and ducks away just in time to not be impaled.  The sword, however, manages to pin her cloak to a wooden pole on the outside of an overhang where some fish have been left out to dry and become jerky.

        “Where did this thing come from,” the other Crown’s Guard growls, drawing back his sword, about to strike the quivering goblin.

        “I have it,” Caleb shouts and punches Nott square in the face.  “I have this. We’re taking these people across to jail,” Caleb grunts.  His hand is covered in the blood flowing down from Nott’s nose.  
“Indeed, stay you blades, please, obviously he can handle this,” Fjord says, his lip curled and chin lifted.  I can only imagine he was attempting to sound like someone with authority and not like the absolute idiot he actually sounded like.

        “Don’t you fucking move you little green piece of filth,” Caleb sneers.  Nott, still dedicated to the role spits at him, though whether she meant to actually hit him in the face with the blood-tinged spit I was not sure.  “This one is mine, thank you. Beat her within an inch of her life.”  Had this been our first time doing this I might have felt sorry for the both of them, but the routine is as flawless as ever and the guards buy into it.

        “All right if you see anything else, give a shout.”  Both Guards look genuinely disappointed in not being able to skewer the goblin and spit on her before trudging off down the street to continue their watch.  Once they were out of view, Jester exited the lake and I slunk out of the alcove and crouched in front of Nott, wiping away the spit and blood with the corner of my sleeve.  I’ve just barely finished cleaning her face when Caleb kicks me out of the way and I have to catch myself so I don't fall on my face.

        “Let me see your teeth, Schatz,”  he frowns, tilting her head side to side and peering into her mouth to see if he did any actual damage.  “Okay, you look all right.”

        Jester, bless her little odd tiefling heart, offers her hand to help me stand up and pats me on the shoulder with a sympathetic smile.  I wish I had a spell that would dry her off since she is soaked from the knees down.  Still, I am used to the dynamic between Caleb and Nott by now and I try to not let it grate on my nerves too much.  Molly seems to sense my agitation despite my having drawn my face a blank mask.  Truly, I doubted there was anything I could hide from him.

        Molly stayed closer to me this time as I led the group to the large circus tent that should have been teeming with life just after a performance, but instead sat empty and a little sagged on one side.  At the front entrance, leaning against the flap, was a Crown’s Guard, yawning in either boredom or tiredness from the late watch.  A little further away, I can see the flickering glow of firelight from where the performers’ tents were pitched.

        “If you want to make your ways around,” Fjord whispered, “I could distract ‘em for a moment, have a conversation with them. Caleb, if you can keep that spell up, you could come with me and help.”  Caleb nodded and made to straighten his armor before he remembered it was just an illusion.  I couldn’t help but snicker.  Glaring at me, Fjord and Caleb left the group and walked up to the Crown’s Guard.  I could hear him as he adopted his phony regal voice and say, “It’s a late night, not much action this evening.  See anything unusual?”

        “Come on, our best bet is when the distraction is new,” I murmured, crouching low to the ground and crawling towards the cluster of tents, Molly just behind me.  

        Without the Fjord and Caleb, it is easier to be silent as I lead the group in an arc so we stay far away from the firelight.  Slumped by the campfire are two Crown’s Guard, one seems to be dozing off while the other seemed more alert, their eyes scanning the immediate area.  

        “Molly,” Jester whispered, “I have a question. What made you guys set up your tents here?”

        “We were told to set them up here if I remember correctly.”

        “In this specific area?”

        “That sounds right. If I recall, we were specifically told to set up our tents right here.”

        “That’s pretty fuckin close to the lake,” Beau murmured.  “It’s only what, hundred-fifty or two hundred feet away?”

        “Guys,” I snap, agitated at their looping back to blaming the lake and the Guard, “it’s got nothing to do with the fucking lake.  Shut up.”  To make sure they stayed quiet I slunk further into the camp, getting closer to the biggest of the tents.  At my side, Molly lets out a quiet bird call and waits for a few seconds.  When we don’t hear anything he takes the lead, crawling towards a different tent and repeating the call.  A moment passes, then two, then a nearly identical bird call.  Immediately, Molly signals for Beau, Jester, and Nott to wait, and pulls me into the tent with him through the back flap.  

        Inside, leaning up from his bedroll, is Desmond the Fool, out of costume and without makeup.  He gives me a wary look, but already Molly’s tail is snaking around my leg and it must be a sign for Desmond to trust me because he just nods and looks to Molly.

        “Do you know what’s going on?”  It’s barely a whisper and even I have to strain to hear it, how Desmond does is incredible.  Desmond nods again and Molly does something I’ve never yet seen him do - he presses for answers.  “How is it? What’s happened?”

        “They’ve come around asking a few questions, we’re trying to figure it out ourselves.  Are you okay?”

        “I could be worse,” Molly grins, his tail tightening around my leg.  “I’ve got Fayed watching my back so really, what can go wrong?”

        “Hallo,” I breathe.  “I didn’t get to meet you before the show, I was doing fortunes with Molly out front.”

        “How’s Gustav?  And Bosun?”

        “They couldn’t be worse.  And then Yasha...Yasha’d. I don’t know.  Did Toya see anything?  Did she say anything?”  I ran my thumb along the skin of Molly’s tail in soothing circles as his voice rose a bit.  In response, he reached back and covered my hand with his own and kept it there.

        “We’re still trying to figure this out ourselves,” Desmond sighed rubbing his face.  “Are you two alone?”

        “No, I’ve picked up a few stragglers. They’re idiots, but they’re helping.”  I snorted at this and Molly’s grip tightened, his grin widening just a tad.

        “Well, bring them in then.”  With the hand that wasn’t sandwiched between Molly’s hand and his tail, I waved Beau, Jester, and Nott into the tent.  It was uncomfortably tight, but Molly pulled me into his lap to make room and Jester did the same for Nott.

        “So you’re all the ones that helped earlier.  Thank you.  It would have been far worse if you hadn’t.”

        “No problem,” Jester smiled, patting the man’s leg.  “Fayde helped too if you didn’t know, but she was hiding so no one would know it was her.”  Desmond looked at me and I shrugged.

        “What do they think happened? What are they asking,” Molly pressed.  It was only the slight movement of his thumb against my hand that let me know he was alright.

        “They’re thinking something about the show - they’re thinking Gustav made this happen. I don’t think it’s Gustav, he’s a good man. He makes poor choices and it’s plagued him his whole life, you can see it in his brow. But good intentions have grave consequences. No one that good comes out of Shady Creek Run without some mistakes behind them, but I don’t see him doing this.”

        “Gustav’s from Shady Creek Run,” I gasp.  

        “You’ve heard of it then.”

        “Heard,” I scoffed, “I’ve been a few times.  Didn’t like it much, I can see why Gustav left - it’s a real shithole.”  Everyone looked at me surprised, likely for very different reasons.

        “Has it ever happened like this before,” Jester asked.  Desmond just shook his head.  “Anything weird ever happened before?  Like, at all?”

        “Weird things?  All the time.  We’re a bunch of weird folk who work with a lot of weird people.  Bunches of strange freaks gather to this show.”

        “Was there anyone new here recently that you haven’t worked with a lot,” Beau asked.

        “Yasha’s the newest, but she can be flighty,” Molly answered before Desmond could, his low tone a warning against saying anything even remotely bad about Yasha.

        “What about Mona and Yuli,” Nott piped up.

        “The sisters are bitter, but it’s no fault of theirs,” Desmond shrugged.

        “Why are they bitter?”

        “Because, little goblin girl, the world is cruel.  I wish I could help them, but it-”

        “What happened to them,” Beau cut in.  “What did they say? Why do they think that? Why is the world shitty?”

        “Have you been around? Have you traveled to see anything?”  Desmond’s laugh is humorless and the scar dominating the left side of his face twists.  Molly snorts out an equally harsh laugh.

        “Yeah, listen, the world has its own brand of shitty depending on whose eyes are looking at it, right?  So, what is their brand of shitty?”

        “My guess is circus shitty,” I shrug and Molly nods.

        “They don’t seem to take much of a liking to me anyway, so I can’t really tell you myself. I’m sorry.”

        “Is everybody still here, then? They’ve not taken anyone away other than–”

        “Other than those two, everyone else is here. We’re just keeping under watch until their investigation is complete.”

        “Molly, why did you laugh when I asked about the sisters,” Beau frowned.

        “We’re carnival people, we’ve all got our issues.  You don’t end up here if you’re not a little weird.”

        Next to me, it’s like someone slapped Jester.  The tiefling’s eyes go wide and she begins to murmur under her breath, a silver mist spilling from the tips of her fingers tinged with divine energy as she clutches the symbol hanging from her neck.

        “Guys,” she whispers, “I cast a new spell the Traveler told me about, it’s called Detect Good and Evil.  If we sneak around a bit outside I might be able to pick up on something.”  I beam and give Jester a thumbs up with my free hand.  I was familiar with the spell though other clerics I had known - basically, the spell gave Jester a sixth sense to be able to feel any fiends, celestials, fey, undead, or aberrations within a certain radius.  

        “That’s pretty cool,” Nott whispers, yellow eyes wide.  “Let’s keep going then.  Maybe we’ll see something?”  Beau, Jester, and Molly all nodded so we slipped out of the tent after saying goodbye to Desmond.  

        I follow Molly and Jester to the larger tent on the north side of camp, but as we crouch, Jester trips on her skirt and makes a small "oof" sound as she falls to the ground.  Panicked, Molly ushers the girls into the tent and motions for me to do so as well but I shake my head and flatten myself to the ground.  Molly looks like he wants to grab me and drag me into the tent, but one of the Guard is making their way to investigate the sound and I aggressively nod to the tent.  Once he is inside, I let my body relax and will myself to be swallowed by the darkness.  

        Instantly I feel the familiar shroud of shadows wrap around me and fill my eyes and lungs with their calming warmth.  The magic is not mine, rather the lingering touch of something I cannot name nor do I have any memory of.  It is the same magic that lets me see in darkness as if it were lit by the glowing globules Caleb and I can conjure, the same magic that sparks in my fingers when I read my cards and makes breathing and moving easier once the sun has disappeared.  Once, when I was very, very young I had asked my mother what it was, why the strange foreign magic liked me and not my brother who could make light dance on his palms.  She had said it was a blessing but that I was never to ask about it again.  Because I was a child, I did what I was told and promptly shuffled the comment away for a later time when maybe she would say more and forget that I was not supposed to ask in the first place.  I never got the chance to ask a second time.

        I am aware of the footsteps getting closer, of the now magnified sounds of breathing from inside the tent I lay next to.  Slowly, the footsteps passed me by and faded just enough for me to guess the Guard had gone back to the fire.  For a moment, I considered letting the shadows go and ducking into the tent to join the others, but it had been so long since I had felt the gentle caress of the darkness against my skin.  It was weaker than it had been a few years ago, but the shadows still came when I called, still cradled and shrouded me like they always had.  But where once there had been soft whispers in a language I could not quite grasp, there was only a gentle, nearly nonexistent hum.  I found myself too comfortable in this moment, beneath my blanket of darkness, that I stayed where I was.  I could hear inside the tent anyway with the shadows filling me.

        I can hear a voice asking what is happening, Molly giving a brief rundown of events and asking where the hell I had gone.  Out of instinct, I slipped my hand out of the shadows and beneath the flap of the tent, feeling for a moment before coming in contact with the curved edge of the point of Molly’s tail and squeezing.  Laughter follows, though it is quiet and careful, and a hand closes around mine - not tugging me in, but keeping a firm hold all the same.  I do not recognize the voice, but after a moment I think it must be Ornna because she refers to the “sisters” and she most definitely is not Toya.          Apparently, the sisters think the whole thing has been some sort of hit job, though Ornna disagrees and I have to admit she is probably right, though I don’t like the tone she is using with Molly or even Nott.   Suddenly, I see Jester and Nott slip out from the side of the tent and sneak off.  Jester must not have sensed anything in the tent of any concern and had decided to check the rest of the camp with only Nott for company.  I might have gone with them if only to protect Jester and keep Nott out of trouble for Caleb’s sake, but Molly had not gone with them and I was not going to leave his side.  Not while he was facing his own family with something that threatened them all.

        Without Nott and Jester crowding the tent, I reluctantly leave my shadows completely and crawl through the tent flap.

        “Who the-” Beau has to tackle Ornna and cover her mouth before she can alert the Crown’s Guard outside.

        “How the hell weren’t you seen out there?”  Molly sounds horrified like I had hung raw meat on myself and jumped into a pit own owlbears rather than just hiding from a Crown’s Guard.  But, then again, Molly doesn't know about the shadows.  Only Caleb has a vague idea about them after months of probing questions and a childhood fight between the two of us over my magic.  Nott never cared enough to ask.

        “I have my ways,” I grin, and it isn't until I see the slightly alarmed look on Beau’s face that I look away.  I know what changes in the night.  Most aren't perceptive enough to spot the differences, they are very subtle, but it appears Beauregard has spotted at least one, the shift in eye color from green to near grey isn’t natural.  “Anyway, I wasn’t caught, that’s what matters,” I murmur.  

        “Don’t scare me like that,” Molly sighs and his tail takes its place around my leg and his arm slings around my shoulders - as if I would go anywhere.  Ornna doesn't seem overly happy to have another person pop into her tent, but I send her a sharp glare and she stays silent as Beau removes her hand and sits next to the sisters and pulls her legs to her chest to mimic them.  Nothing immediately leaps out at me beyond the general mistrust from everyone so I let myself just lean against Molly and watch as Beau tried to talk to the sisters and as Molly insulted the three them playfully.  I imagine it was like what an older brother might do.  Caleb never did anything like that as far as I can remember.

        “Your performance was great, by the way” I smiled at the twins.  Ornna’s had been good as well but I did not like her, or the way she had been talking to Molly, or the fire she had been playing with.  “I used to be in a circus, but it was a bit...erm...different than yours from what I’ve seen.  Still, I used to dance a bit, but nothing as great as what you two have put together.  Really, it was incredible.”  The sister looked at me, then to Molly, then back to me and offered small smiles and quiet thanks.  

        “To be honest, if it’s any easier, it’s probably Gustav,” Ornna sneers.  Nope, she’s done.

        “It’s not fucking Gustav,” Molly growls and I have to resist the sudden urge to lunge at the woman for even suggesting such a thing.  Gustav was a bit strange, but this was his circus, his family, no circus master would do something like this.

        “It probably is, you shut up.  He’s a prick, he doesn’t know what he’s doing, he’s going to run this whole carnival into the ground.  I don’t want to take the fall for it, we all get away on this.”

        “So wait, it’s probably Gustav?  What makes you say that,” Beau frowns.  She isn’t angry yet, but I don’t think it will take too long because Ornna rolls her eyes and opens her mouth again.

        “Because he’s in prison, he’s the leader, he’s fucked this whole thing by letting this happen.”  This time I begin to lurch forward, but Molly’s arm keeps me from actually going anywhere as his claws dig into my shoulder in warning.  “Be careful, Mollymauk, I think the dog you’ve picked up is rabid.”  Gritting my teeth, I snap Trogal into existence and begin to pet him aggressively to keep myself from trying to tear the woman apart.

        “I’d be careful what you say, Ornna, I’ve seen her cut off a zombie’s head with a single swing of her axe,” Molly growls.  Still, when Trogal nuzzles his arm that isn't around me he begins to scratch behind the fox’s ears and a little of his agitation fades.  After a moment, Molly sighs and says, “I know your feelings on all this. What do you think?”

        “I’d say Bosun’s a stand-up guy,” Ornna shrugs, “if a bit of a self-absorbed dick at times.  And we all knew Gustav was going to shit the bed sooner or later, I mean, this is his karma.  I just don’t know how, or why, but I can guarantee you, if this was my carnival, this shit wouldn’t have happened.”

        “What would have done then,” Molly asks, the edge to his voice much more subtle now - more dangerous than outright anger.

        “Well, first off, I would have made sure that we had better support from the guard before this all happened so nobody else got killed.”

        “The Guard are useless,” I scoffed.

        “Secondly, I would have made sure that there weren’t any old folks that made it into fucking shit.”  

        “That - that’s my fault, that one is on me,” Molly sighed, his shoulders sagging.  “I should have been keeping a better watch-”

        “Except Bo and Yasha were the ones letting people in, you weren’t the only one Molly.”  I was glad Beau had said something, but the mention of Yasha made Molly sag even more.  I scooched a little closer into his side hoping the pressure would help.  Just then, the back flap burst open and Jester fell into the tent.

        “It’s Ornna,” She whisper-yells, pointing at the woman from where she is sprawled on the ground.  Not a moment later, Nott crawls in behind her.

        “Ornna, you’ve got a lot of explaining to do!  We’ve talked to Toya. She knows it’s you who did this!”

        “Yeah,” Jester quietly jeers, it’s actually quite funny to see the scene unfold with the hushed tones.  “We know you guys are in a fight all the time.”

        “You!” Nott echoed, pointing a bandaged finger at the flustered looking Ornna.

        “I don’t know what you’re talking about. What the fuck is this? Who the fuck are you!”  Ornna is sputtering, her face flushed, and eyes wild as she looks around the tent.  I don’t think it’s her, but it’s nice to see the bitch squirm.

        “Start talking, or this goblin starts biting!”

        “To be perfectly honest,” Ornna huffs, “I have no idea what’s going on.  Y'all just came in here, started throwing accusations at me.  Gustav got arrested. Bosun got arrested. Molly got arrested - I’m glad you got off that.  But to be perfectly honest, this whole thing’s a shit show and the circus is probably not going to be the same after this.”

        “Look you two,” Molly sighed, “it’s no secret that Ornna and Gustav have their differences, but this ridiculous.  I mean, she knows damn well that half the circus would leave if he got fucking arrested and died.”

        “You’re for real worried about this? You really want to know who it could be? Let’s play,” Ornna sneered.  “Gustav: he’s an idiot, but he’s not a murderer.  Bosun: bit of a dick, but he’s a stand-up fella.  Toya: absolute doll, couldn’t hurt a fucking fly.  Mona and Yuli: They’re cunts, but they’re not going to kill anyone.  Desmond’s a weird fellow. There’s something dark in his past; you can see it in his melancholy.”

        “But that’s not his style,” Molly protested.

        “So it’s Desmond!  Let's go to his tent and-” this time Molly didn't stop me as I lunged my body forward, but he did keep his tail securely around my leg.  I grabbed Nott around the middle, pulled her into my lap, and held my hand over her mouth before settling back into Molly’s side.  What could I say, he was warm and smelled good even after running around all day.

        "There’s some untrustworthy intelligence in those lizard eyes of that devil,” Ornna said.

        “I did get a very evil kind of vibe off him,” Jester admits.  “We were just there to talk to Toya and I could feel it rolling off him.  He’s a fiend.  But there’s something in here that feels like it too-”

        “Oh that’s just Trogal,” I smile, gesturing my head to where the familiar had curled himself in the crook of Moll’s legs, his tongue dangling from his mouth as Molly continued to scratch his ears and chin. “I actually don’t think you’ve properly met him, he’s my familiar, my Frumpkin.”

        “Jester, that’s just a name. It’s not actually, like, a real thing. That just–”

        “You guys do know he’s an actual fiend, though, right,” Jester frowns.

        There’s a moment of silence while Ornna pales and the sisters glance at each other confused.  “He’s supposed to be lizardfolk,” Ornna whispers, horrified.  “Oh, gods, he’s got Toya with him!”

        I hiss in pain as Nott bites my hand, puncturing the skin and causing blood to immediately well up and drip down my wrist.  Still, I don’t let her go, not trusting that she won’t start yelling and running out of the tent to confront what could be a very dangerous creature.  Suddenly, there’s yelling outside the tent, but it doesn’t sound like my brother or Fjord.  No, it’s the guards.

        “The frog is on the move, the frog is on the move!”  Caleb’s message spell is all I need to release Nott and cast Disguise Self, assuming the same form I had during the fight in the circus tent the other night.  I go to move out of the back of the tent, but Molly’s tail tightens around my leg, poking out of the illusion.

        “Guys, Kylre is doing something!”  That gets a reaction.  Jester peaks out the front flap, her hand flying to her axe and Beau burst out, running to something I can’t see.  “Molly-”

        “Be safe and stick with me,” Molly says.  “If things get really bad, run.  Run like hell to the inn and stay there until I come to get you.”  There’s no room for argument and I get the feeling that if I tried he would have Ornna and the sisters pin me down and keep me here.  So I nod and pull out my handaxe from beneath my coat.  Satisfied, he turns to the sisters and Ornna. “Girls, we’re not supposed to be here.  Can you help us handle this?”

        The halfling sisters look at each other and then say, “Fuck no!”

        “We’ll do what we can, then,” Molly sighed.  “If something goes wrong, nudity usually works.” And then he’s pulling me out of the tent, identical grins on our faces.

        Molly and I exit the tent just in time to see two zombified guards rise up from the ground, sand and dust pouring out of their open wounds where there should have been blood, and look around.  Fjord and Caleb are running in from the right and Beau is already flying forward to meet them head on and trying to knock them to the ground with her staff.  When that doesn't work, she elbows one of the zombie guards in the face.  Looking around, I can’t see Kylre and I know we’ll have to kill the guards to keep everyone in the circus and the town safe.  Without thinking about what might happen after the fight, I raise my left hand and send a sickly green and black jet of energy at one of the guards just as Caleb chucks a shard of ice at the same guard, encasing one side of its torso in ice.  Then, bursting past me, the end of his tail only just staying curled at my ankle, Molly slashes down with his scimitars carving a V shape into the zombie’s torso.  The central portion of its body slips onto the ground with a splat and the arms fall to the side and the body collapses onto the ground.  Satisfied and wanting to get out of reach of the other zombie guard, Molly leaps back to my side.  

        The second zombie, seeing Molly cut down his, at one time, comrade, lunges forward to attack the tiefling.  Suddenly, blood bursts from the side of Molly’s neck even though I didn’t see the zombie hit him there and the zombie’s bulging red eyes suddenly go black and thick droplets of blood-like ichor begin to spill out the corners of its eyes.  Damaged, the zombie's first swing goes wide as Molly ducks, but the second swing does not miss, the zombie’s club bashing into Molly’s shoulder with a loud crack sending him stumbling back into me.

        “Hey, if I have to be careful you do too,” I grin, pressing my hand to the side of his neck to staunch the bleeding.  

        Streaking past us, shooting a crossbow bolt at the zombie, Nott was screaming a string of curses in what I knew was goblin.  Fjord, now in range, flipped his falchion so the pummel was raised upwards and let loose a blast of dark, black, purple, energy that slammed into the zombie’s back and dented the bronze armor that was now too small for its bloated corpse.  Had the Guard still been alive, the impact likely would have done more damage.

        “We need to drop this fucker and get the hell out of Dodge,” Fjord calls out.

        Keeping my left hand on Molly’s neck, I had no way to know if the blood had stopped spurting out, I swung wildly with my handaxe just as Molly swung with his scimitars.  For a moment, I don’t realize the fight is over.  My axe had fully decapitated the zombie, but its body was still standing, except now I can see the hilt of Molly’s sword jammed into the creature’s abdomen before slowly sliding off and hitting the ground with a dull thud.  It takes me another moment to feel the sting in my side, to register the look of horror on Molly’s face, to hear Jester shriek and Beau curse.  None of us had realized the zombie guard had been carrying a dagger.

        Gingerly, I pull the dagger from my side, hissing as the metal slides out.  Blood, darker than most, is pouring from the wound and it is only because of instinct and having had similar injuries that I clench my jaw and pull a rag from my pocket to press to the wound.  If I was alone I could handle this just fine, let my body curl up in a corner somewhere and let the shadows knit together the muscle and skin.  But I am not alone.  Molly has an arm hooked around my waist to keep me up and Jester is furiously trying to come up with a spell to help heal me just a little bit, but she’s completely out.  I can’t see Nott anywhere and the other circus performers are coming out of their tents.  

        “We need to get you back to the inn,” Molly says, readjusting his grip so he’s practically carrying me.

        “What you need,” I groan, “is to find Kylre.  I think he’s the one doing this.  Go, I - I’ll meet you at the tavern.  Just don’t have too much fun without me, ja?”  I do what I can to grin, but it’s probably closer to a grimace thanks to the pain.  

        “I don’t want you to go alone-”

        “Too bad, Mollymauk.  Look, I’ll be at the inn when you get back, ok?  I’ll leave my door unlocked and everything if you want to check in on me.  First door on the left.”  For a split second, I thought he wasn’t going to let me go, that he was going to insist on coming with me and leaving the group when they needed all the help they could get to track down where Kylre had gone.  But, with a heavy sigh, Molly let me stand on my own and his tail unwound from the vice-like grip on my ankle.  I immediately missed the warmth.

        The walk back to the inn was agony, every step sent sharp pangs up my side and by the time I made it to the alleyway where the rope dangled from Caleb’s window, I was covered in a fine sheen of sweat and was shaking.  The only reason I made it up the rope was that the sun had not yet risen and I had long ago called the shadows to surround me and help me as I walked.  Once I was in my room, I collapsed onto the makeshift bed and let the shadows crawl across my body, thankful that the room did not have a window and that the sun would not chase them away.  I could feel them, warm and gentle, against my skin as they slithered into the wound and filled my lungs.  Before long, the pain was nearly completely gone and the soothing hum of the darkness lulled me to sleep.

><><><><><

        I wake up much warmer than  I usually do.  There’s pressure on my chest and around my leg and all along my left side.  Oddly, I don’t immediately freak out.  The pressure is comforting and everything seems to radiate a gentle heat that seeps past my skin and into my bones in a similar way the shadows do.  For a moment I wonder if that is what this is if somehow they have coalesced and gained weight to them, but then I become aware of the soft breathing and steady thrum of a heartbeat that is not my own.  On my chest, curled into a tight ball with his tail over his face, is Trogal.  He isn’t facing me so I can’t tell if he is awake or not, but if he is here then that means...

        Squished between me and the wall, Molly was covered in dirt and blood.  His shirt was torn and there was a nasty bruise forming on his jaw, but for the moment he looked relaxed.  I don't remember him ever waking me up so I assume he had crawled in at some point figuring I wouldn’t mind.  Careful not to disturb Molly, I urged Trogal off my chest - he just huffed and curled up on the lumpy pillow next to Molly’s head - and began the slow process of unwinding his tail from my leg.  Thankfully, the tiefling doesn’t wake up and I drape the small blanket over him before grabbing my shoes and slipping out of the tiny room and downstairs to the main hall.

        Yorda looks a bit concerned when she sees me, the large bloodstain and tares in my shirt probably look horrible, but I wave off her concern and ask that she save some breakfast for the others once they get up.  She doesn’t ask any questions, but she does agree and hands me an old chipped mug filled with coffee that she says I can take with me when I tell her I need to go to a few stores in town.

        My first stop was a curious little shop near the marketplace that I had spotted yesterday.  Compared to a few shops in Trostenwald, Gretta’s Finery was closer to what I would have expected to find in the middle of Zedash.  The white exterior was only slightly dirty and the small patch of ivy crawling up on one corner of the building gave it a rather charming appearance.  The inside was just as inviting, the floors clean and the counter shiny from being treated with wood oil.  

        “Can I help you, dear?”  Emerging from one of the racks near the back of the shop was a halfling woman, blonde hair in an elegant knot and blue dress free of dirt stains or tears.

        “I sincerely hope so,” I smile. “You see, I’ve been traveling with my brother and, well, I had a bit of an accident the other night and now I am in desperate need for some new clothes.”  I gesture to my practically ruined shirt and worn trousers.  “You wouldn’t happen to have anything that is both durable and looks nice, would you?”

        “Oh you poor thing,” the woman gasped, poking at the different tears in my shirt.  “Yes, I think I can get you exactly what you need.  Follow me, dear.”

        Half an hour later I exit the store with two packages in hand, one with new clothes for me and the other with a new shirt for Molly and gloves for Nott since it was getting colder and she did not have any.  

        My next stop was the bathhouse.  Given the standard in Trostenwald, the bathhouse was rather upscale, but a private bath was only five silver and for another few bits I could have then clean my coat which was covered in months worth bloodstains and grime.  The water was warm and lightly scented, but I did not linger long, staying just long enough to rub my skin pink with soap and thoroughly clean my hair which I had not been able to do in months.  Properly clean, I changed into my new clothes and reveled in the feeling of fresh, clean cloth, sturdy boots, and properly fitting pants.  It was a relief to finally change clothes after months on end in the same dirty outfit.

        It was past noon by the time I arrived back to the Nestled Nook and it did not seem like anyone was awake yet, at the very least no one was downstairs.  Tiptoeing into Caleb and Nott's room, they were indeed still asleep so I deposited Nott’s new gloves and left a little note for Caleb detailing where the bathhouse was and its various costs because I knew he would want to go at some point.  In my room, Molly was awake and panicking.

        “Fuck, I couldn't figure out where you’d gone!  Don’t do that Fayde,” he groaned, rubbing his face.

        “I didn’t think you’d freak out, I’m sorry.  But hey, I got you something!”  At this Molly looked up curiously so I handed him the neatly wrapped package.  “Now, it might be a little big, but I think it will work with the whole ensemble you’ve got going on.”  Sitting on the bed, my back against the wall, I pulled Trogal into my lap and watch as Molly hesitantly picked at the twine holding the paper in place.

        “You really didn't have to do this,” Molly murmured as he lifted the clean fabric from the paper.  Like the shirt he had been wearing, the new shirt was white with a deep v-neck that would show off his scared chest, but the sleeves had a bit more flow to them and the breast pocket was decorated with a small embroidered crescent moon in silver thread.

        “Maybe not, but the one you’ve got on is basically a rag at this point and you’ve been so nice and, I mean, this whole mess hasn’t been easy for you - it can’t be.  A new shirt is nothing.”

        “You’ve also been paying for meals, drinks, have been getting me out of trouble every time I seem to find it...why?”

        I shrug.  “Because you’re nice and you don’t look at me like I’m some kind of crazy person.”  I don’t say it’s because he feels familiar even though I’ve never met him, because he’s been far nicer than Caleb or Nott have ever been, because I know what it’s like to have everything crumble around you and not be able to do a damn thing about it other than scream into the void.  “There’s a bathhouse not too far from the jail if you want a proper bath, as well.  Or there’s the washroom here, I could go get you some clean water and see if that shop we were near last night has soap.”

        “Darling, are you trying to say I smell,” Molly grinned.

        “About as much as my brother, Süsser.”

        “So that’s what it means!  You’ve been calling me smelly this whole time!”

        “No, no,” I laugh, “Süsser, in my mother tongue, means sweet.  It is a term of endearment not too unlike what Caleb uses for Nott.”  Chuckling, Molly thwacks me with his tail, though he does so gently.

        “How’s your side?”

        “Fine,” I smile, catching the end of his tail in my hands.  “You know, I distinctly remember telling you to be careful and it looks very much like you weren’t.”

        “Well neither were you, so I guess we are both bad at following directions.”

        “Mhm, I guess we are.  So, what did I miss?”

        “Not too much,” Molly huffed.  “There was another zombie guard we didn’t see, but I took care of it. Kylre is gone, we think he took Toya and is somewhere in the lake or has found his way to the other side.  Oh and, you’ll like this, Beau almost got kicked in the face by a horse.”  I burst out laughing just as there was a knock on the door.

        “I hope you’re not nay-ked,” Jester sang from the other side just before swinging the door open.  “Good morning!”

        “Actually, it is the afternoon,” I smile.  “Come in, close the door, take a seat, have a chat!”

        “But, can’t you, like, not see in the dark,” Jester frowns even as she closes the door and flops down on the bed in a flurry of skirts.

        “Oh, no, I can see just fine.  My magic lets me see better than most actually,” I explained.  “I actually prefer being in the dark...it feels safe, more comfortable.”

        “Is that why you go outside when it is dark and why you were so good at getting up on that roof last night and why your eyes go black sometimes?”

        “I - I, erm”

        “It is okay if you don’t want to talk about it, it just makes Fjord nervous and I trust you but he says I shouldn’t because we know nothing about you.”

        “My...my magic is a little odd-”

        “You don’t need to explain yourself, Fayde,” Molly said, shooting Jester a warning look.

        “No, I think Jester may understand better than anyone else,” I smile, running my hand along the bony edges of his tail.  “Caleb told me once, when we were very little, that our mother made a promise to someone that if she could have another child she would do anything to make them happy.  Caleb said that by making that promise, I was born different...that I was born wrong.  Most of my magic is my own...but there are parts of it that aren’t - like when I tell fortunes, really tell them and not pretend to.  The magic that isn’t mine, well, it feels kind of like a friend and I feel it the best when I am in the dark or in shadowed places like caves.”

        “Does it talk to you?  The Traveler talks to me all of the time.”

        “It used to,” I admit.  “I couldn’t understand it, but at night there was a voice.  It stopped talking to me a while ago, though.  It’s barely a hum now, and only when I call it.”  I looked up and meet Molly’s red eyes, wishing I could read them, that I could tell what he was thinking.  I trusted Molly, and Jester too, but talking about this with Molly felt almost like talking to the darkness.  “I can only imagine the voice is similar to what you have with the Traveler.”

        “It sounds like it,” Jester nods.  “I can’t even think about what it would be like if the Traveler stopped talking to me though.  Why did it go away?”

        “I don’t know.  One night it was there, whispering in my ear like it always did, and the next night it was gone.  Well, not gone, just a lot weaker.”

        “What did Caleb think when you stopped hearing it,” Molly asked.

        “We weren't together at the time.  Besides, he doesn’t like to talk about it, it makes him angry,” I shrug.  “My mother once said it was a blessing, but she also said I was not allowed to ask about it ever again.  Whatever she made a deal with, it was not something she liked.”

        “Well,” Jester huffed, “I think Caleb is wrong.  Everyone has different magic and if yours likes the dark and the voice in the dark then that is just what your magic likes.  If it makes you happy then that is what matters.”

        “I use my blood for magic,” Molly grinned, “and everyone says it’s weird, but I say it is me.  Jester worships a god the Empire says is not legitimate, and she is happy.  Right, Jester?”  Jester nods her head and clutches her holey symbol.  “I say screw Caleb and your mom.  If whatever it was she made a deal with likes you and helps you then it clearly is what is right for you.”

        “You know, you two are the best,” I smile, patting Jester’s leg and squeezing Molly’s tail.  “Now, how about we get some lunch and talk about what we are going to do about Kylre, ja?”


	5. Another Fight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everything's a fight. Life is a fight.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to the super cool QueenOfTheQuill for helping me with formatting, I'm so much happier with the new spacing!

        Caleb and Nott must have woken up and gone shopping while I was in my room with Molly and Jester because they come in with bright smiles and Caleb is clutching two books to his chest.  I had not seen my brother smile that much in a very long time; it was wonderful to see.  Caleb wastes not time before he has settled himself into a corner and buries his nose in one of the two books while Jester tries to read over his shoulder and ask questions.  I used to get excited like that when Caleb would bring books home, sometimes I would even sneak into his room and peak at them when he was out.  At the time, though, I was much too young to actually understand any of the information and I know now that many of the books he had would have been useless to me.  While Caleb reads, the rest of the group is worrying about what they are going to say to the Lawmaker since they had apparently been summoned.

        “Should we talk about what we’re going to say to them? Do we need to corroborate our stories?”  Beau did not look as nervous as the others, in fact, she looked near calm.  If I had to guess, we had some similar experiences with the law.

        “I mean,” I grin, picking at one of Molly’s chains that had gotten tangled, “you could always just tell the truth, you did nothing wrong at all.”

        “That’s right,” Jester smirks, catching on.  “We were in the inn the whole time!”

        “Will they buy it though?  I don’t wanna rustle any feathers,” Fjord frowned.

        “Fjord, if they don’t believe you I’ll personally take care of them,” I offer.

        “And just what would that entail?  It’s not that I don’t trust you-”

        Leaning forward, I snatched Fjord’s collar and yanked towards me so I could whisper in his ear.  “Listen to me very carefully.  I don’t like it when people lie to me Fjord, not when I’m doing what I can to get their asses out of trouble.  I could very easily walk out of here with whoever I wanted and no one would stop me - not the Crown’s Guard, not the Lawmaster, and definitely not you.”  Letting him go I leaned back and took a sip of my Trost.  “Now, Fjord, I know you don’t trust me, but I’m going to need you to, just until this whole thing is over and then there will be a good chance you’ll never see me again.  I’ll go with you to the Lawmaster’s office while she talks to you and I will do what I have to to get everyone here out of trouble.  What we need to focus on, is what we are going to do tonight because, I am sorry Molly, but we need to deal with this Kylre situation.  If we can bring him in alive that would be...preferable, but fiends can be territorial about their chosen companions and Toya is definitely who Kylre has chosen.”

        “I  was thinking that if we get out of there tonight, fingers crossed, we should probably think about acquiring some sort of vessel to explore the lake,” Fjord sighs, straightening his shirt.  Beau is giving me a harsh look and Molly’s tail is tightly coiled around my leg.

        “I think we could totally steal a boat! We know where one is and-” Jester shrugs.

        “Or, and think about this, I may be able to arrange free passage on a vessel,” Fjord interjects.  “I do have a knack for, well, you know…”

        “Oh, that’s right!  Guys, Fjord was a sailor!  That’s how I met him,” Jester chirps, her tail swishing happily.

        “Well, for a bit,” Fjord smiles, a flash of a memory playing behind his eyes.

        “Where out of?  For how long?”  Caleb has looked up from his book, seeming to sense information was being given about one of the people he was trapped with.  

        “Port Damali, but it was only for a few years.”

        “Didn't you tell me and Caleb once you had gone there,” Nott asked.

        “Very briefly, it was just a quick stop a few years back,” I nod.  “Jester, I hope you aren't going to hurt yourself trying to read Caleb’s book.”  Jester was in a very precarious position, only two of the legs of the chair were on the floor as she leaned to the side with her neck craned over my brother’s shoulder, her tail twitching.

        “I just want to know what it is about,” she pouts, letting her chair clunk to the floor.

        “It’s about fiends, dear.  The title is on the spine,” I smiled.

        “Any toad creatures,” Molly huffed.

        “I mean, it’s chock-a-block with a lot of things,” Caleb frowns, leafing through the pages,  “most of it probably untrue and stories to scare your children, but there is some sort of demon that is described as being fat and rotund, and it talks about – I mean, this is too coincidental, it can’t be the thing that we’re – what are the odds of something being in this book, and it’s what we’re chasing today?  But this is describing some sort of scaled demon that feeds on people in the night when they’re sleeping, and it leaves corrupted, undead corpses behind, known as husks.”

        “That is what they look like.  They look like husks,” Jester gasps.

        “Kylre’s been around for a while, though!  And this is new, right?  I feel like- Was there nothing?”  Molly looks about as stressed as I’ve seen him in the past few days.  His shoulders are slumped forward and there is no trace of his usual grin.  Under the table I placed my hand on his thigh and, even though I knew he would not feel them as I did, I willed the shadows - faint as they were - to comfort him.  

        “How well did you know Kylre,” Fjord asked.

        “I mean, not that well.  Probably the least of everyone since I mostly stuck with Yasha when she was around.”

        “You haven’t heard the word nergaliid then,” Caleb pushes, closing his book and leaning into Molly’s space.  

        “That’s a-” A violent shiver passes down Molly’s spine and his whole body tenses.  “I have heard that word before,” he whispers, staring at his hands.  This revelation only seems to make him feel worse.

_“Do you want me to go get you some whiskey,”_  I whisper to him, switching to Infernal and rubbing soothing circles with my thumb.

         _“Not yet, I...can you just keep doing whatever you’re doing?  It feels really good,”_  he whispers back, scooching just a little bit closer.  “Oh dear.  Oh, why can’t I remember?  It was so long ago.”

        “Okay,” Beau huffs, obviously glad to be getting somewhere, “so what was Mr. Frogman’s diet?”

        “He ate what we had!  I - I thought he was just a lizard man, not some fucking frog demon thing!”

        “You never noticed him eating people before,” Jester asked.  I could tell she was just trying to be helpful, but Molly was starting to shake.  Not enough for anyone to see it, but I could feel him beneath my hand.

        “I feel like I would’ve taken note of it.  I don’t necessarily know I would’ve commented on it, but I would’ve noted it,” Molly snaps, his fangs flashing.

        “Okay,” Jester squeaked, flinching back a little.

        “Once again,”  Caleb cut in, “I have no idea if this is the creature that we’re in pursuit of, but this talks about it not eating food, but siphoning the life off of mortal creatures, but not to the point of death or harming them.  They might not even notice that it’s happening.”

        “That’s what was happening to Toya.  Maybe all of you,” Jester gasps.

        “It says that this thing has two types of feeding: one is slow and unnoticeable, maybe, and one is quick with much pain and anguish.”

        “It’s possible the first guy, Mr. Brinjay, was an accident,” I sigh.  “For all we know, Kylre was just barely skimming for food and old man Brinjay was just too close to naturally dying.”

        “Does the book say how to kill them,” Beau grunts.

        While Caleb is flipping through his book looking for an answer, the front door swings open and three Crown’s Guard stride in.  They take a quick sweep of the room, barely pausing in their stride when they spot us and make a beeline for the table we were crowded around.

        “You are absolved of meeting this afternoon.  We’ll pick this up tomorrow,” One of the Guard huffs.

        “Is, is everything ok,” I squeak, shrinking in on myself.  “What’s going on?”

        “There have been a series of murders within the Crown’s Guard that we are investigating as well.  This will be part of the investigation tomorrow, you are not to leave this inn.”

        “Of course not sir!  We don’t want to cause any trouble, sir,” I nodded at the same time as Jester jumped out of her seat.

        “But we could help.  Obviously, we had nothing to do with it if people are hurt outside and we were here the whole time.”

        “How are we absolved yet we still have to be locked in this inn?”  Beau crossed her arms and leaned back in her chair.

        “We are only absolved for the questioning today, I think.  Is that right, sir?  My Papa said this happens sometimes.”

        “Smart kid, who was your dad,” the third Guard said.  I recognized him as one of the Guard that had been at the circus the night of the initial attack. 

        “He was a businessman.  We...we didn't live in a very nice town and he wanted me to know some standard procedures.”

        “Not your brother?”

        “No, sir, I was supposed to take over the business but he died a bit ago and I” I sniffed and started rubbing my eyes as I forced tears to start welling up.  “I just couldn’t be there w-where he where he was and…”  Caleb bowed his head and Molly pulled me into his arms as I sped up my breathing.

        “I’m sorry to hear about your loss.  The rest of you should know that we’ve arrested Ornna and we have members of the carnival that have fled that we’re currently seeking at the moment.  We will return tomorrow.”

        Once they’re out the door I let Molly hold me for just a moment longer because he is warm and smells good and quite frankly I haven’t had a hug in months.  But after a moment I pull away, wipe away the tears, and grin, “Well, our day just got freed up.”

        “You’re insane,” Beau laughs.  “Where’d you come up with a story like that?”

        “I didn’t entirely have to,” I shrug.

        “Which part was true,” Fjord asked.

        “Oh, it was all true Mr. Fjord,” I grin, “just a smash of facts in the wrong order about different people.  It isn’t lying if it’s the truth, ja?”

        “We still can't leave the inn though,” Nott frowned.

        “Caleb could read that other book, at the very least,” Molly shrugged.

        “I could,” Caleb nods.  “I could also– here’s the thing about my cat.  He’s a cat, definitely a cat, but is also a fey creature.  If I have an hour, he doesn’t have to be a cat.  He can temporarily be a bird.”

        “How much did you say it costs, though,” asks Jester.

        “Well, I have a lot of charcoal now, and you said you have incense on you, Mollymauk?”

        Sighing, Molly goes upstairs and brings down his bag, pulling out a smaller, ornate pouch covered in gems, probably fake, and delicate silver filigree.  “I’ve got about eight silvers worth if you need it.”

        “Are you sure you want to do this, with your cat,” Fjord frowns.

        “Caleb, we can do this with Trogal and you can keep Frumpkin as a cat.  I don’t mind as much as you do, really.”

        “No, if we need to split up I would like to be able to see from the sky,” Caleb insisted.  “You said you have eight silvers worth on incense?”  Molly nodded and Caleb sighs.  “Then I will need to find a place to get more.  I need ten golds worth of charcoal and incense and I don’t have near enough.”

        “I was going to go check out that store from the other night, Natural Remedies, I could see if they’ve got-”

        “No, Nott and I will go,” Caleb spat.

        “Fine,” I ground out.  “I’ll be at the lake.  I’m going to see if I can see anything during the day.”

        “Fayde, I don’t want you-”

        “Molly, I’ll be fine,” I sigh, patting his leg.   _“I’ll see you in a little bit, okay?  Just...please don’t let them drag you into anything too stupid.  I can get you out if I need to, but…”_

        _“I’ll try.  Just, please be careful.  You can’t come with me if you’re dead.”_

        _“Well, then I guess I can’t die,”_  I grin.  “Don’t do anything too stupid, keep an eye on them, Jester.”

      _“I will.  I’ll even keep an eye on Molly for you,”_  the tiefling giggles in infernal.  I nod my thanks and slip out past the guards at the door, going straight to the lake.

        It took a little bit to find a quiet space out of view of the docks, but once I was sure no one could see me I hunkered down by the edge of the water and began to scan the lake.  From what I could see, there were a few masses out in the lake that could be large enough to hold Kylre and Toya, but short of swimming all the way there or chartering a boat, I couldn’t do anything but watch.  

        Except I could send a message to Papa.

         _“Papa, dealing with a nergaliid fiend.  Any information would help.  Thinking of coming home soon with a friend or two.  They’re really nice.  Love you.”_   The response came after several moments of silence where I just stared at the lake.

         _“It might summon devils.  Be careful.  Would be happy to have you home.  Friends may be tricky, but I won’t say no.  Love you too.”_   It wasn’t amazing information, but Papa had a lot to do and even the little information he was able to give me so quickly could prove very useful.  Still, I wasn't going to walk all the way back to the inn to tell the others because I didn't want to deal with Fjord’s questions and weird looks or Nott’s underhanded comments or any of the problems Caleb had with me.

        What I wanted was Molly and maybe Jester, but mostly I just wanted Molly.

        Around dusk I make my way to the docks, figuring Molly and the rest would be making their way over soon enough.  Most of the boats are in at this point and the fishermen are unloading their catches from a long day on the water.  When I don’t immediately see anyone in the group, I scan across the boats trying to judge size.  We need to fit all seven of us in a boat to scout the lake, but how long we are going to be out there I can’t even begin to tell.  With any luck, Kylre is on one of the islands I can see from the shore.  If we manage to find him and Toya, we will need a boat for all of us.  Luckily, one of the larger fishing boats looks like it could accommodate the seven of us and maybe a few others.  If I had to, I could probably swim back so we could fit Kylre in the boat.

        Smiling, I manage to catch the eye of one gentleman in his mid-forties, a little bit of a five o'clock shadow on his chin, a small scar across the bottom of it.  He has a heavy knitted cap that’s folded back onto the top of his shoulders and a long coat, and as he’s standing there, he looks over at me and watches as I approach, taking the rope and tying it around the edge.  

        “Good evening,” I smile, “would this happen to be your vessel?”

        “Aye, it is.  What can I do for yeh?”

        “Well, I was hoping that perhaps-”

        “G'evening, sir!  My friends and I were hoping we could trouble you for a moment of your valuable time.”  I try not to scream as Fjord cuts me off.  Clearly, he didn't think I could get us a boat - either that or he just hates me.  “We’re trying to make our way out into the lake, some of my companions and I, for a small day trip.  We’ve never quite been out on the lake, not this one.  Is there a chance we could trade some work on your day’s journey for some travel?”

        Instantly Molly is wrapping an arm around my shoulders and his tail around my leg, grinning for all he’s worth.  I can feel his claws digging into my shoulder, keeping me calm and grounded.  It’s almost like he could sense the sudden wave of agitation crashing over me.  I do my best to keep my smile and lean into him, winding my arm around his waist.  Somehow, as I lean into him, my agitation seems to slowly seep away similar to how the shadows can diminish pain or anxiety.

        “If you’re looking for someone to take you around the lake, I could do that for a bit of coin, sure,” the fisherman says, looking between Fjord and I.  I almost go for my coin purse before I decide against it.  If Fjord wants to get in my way then he can figure this out on his own.

        “I’m sorry, we’re a bit light on coin,” Fjord sighs, rubbing his neck.  “Is there perhaps anything we could help you with around here in trade?”

        Coming up next to me, Jester grins and hip checks me, leaning in to whisper in my ear. 

        “We are going to check out the big island out there for Kylre because Caleb couldn’t see much from the sky.  What did you do while you were gone?  Oh, and Molly didn't do anything stupid.”

        “Glad to hear it,” I chuckled.  “I just sat and watched the lake - kind of needed to cool off for a bit.  But, I should tell you, I did get a bit of information.”

        “How,” Molly whispered.

        “I’ve got my ways.  Anyway, Kylre might not be alone.  My, ah, source of information, warned me he might be able to summon devils if he needs to.  Molly, Süsser, I want to get him back here alive, but I’m not sure we can with everyone as wound up as they are.”

        “Why do you want to bring Kylre back alive?”  I hadn’t realized Beau had wandered over to listen to us.

        “Well, it’s like this,” I sigh, “Kylre is the one doing all this, right?  If we can’t get him back here to the Lawmaster and get him to confess, or have enough evidence to get him convicted without a confession, we stand a good chance of getting Gustav and Bo as well as the rest of the circus, and of course you all, out of trouble.  Only Kylre would face punishment.  If we don’t bring him back alive...well, someone has to take the blame.”  Beau nods like she understands and looks out to the lake.

        “You said you had other jobs after the circus, right, Fayde?”  Beau wasn’t looking at me, but she kept her voice low so the conversation would stay between the four of us.

        “At least someone pays attention when I talk,” I grin.  “Ja, I did.  There was a long time where I lived and worked very far from my parents and Caleb and I learned an awful lot during that time.  I traveled all over, sometimes in the Empire, sometimes not, and I tried to take in everything I could.  I can’t say it was the best way to live, but, scheisse, it was one hell of a way to learn.”

        “What was it you did?”

        “That I cannot say, Beau.  For a while, I worked for someone, a businessman of sorts, but I, ah, let’s say I went into business with him after a while to do some of my own work - to do what I wanted.”

        “And what was it you wanted to do?”

        “Mostly?  I wanted to hunt monsters,” I shrugged.  When Beau finally looked at me, there was something in her expression that made me wonder how much of what I said she did not already know.  She was doing what Caleb liked to do, was trying to stare me down and find holes to poke at, rooting around and sifting through my words trying to find where exactly the lie was.  But, like Caleb, she could not seem to find a lie to expose.  But, where Caleb would have huffed and left it well enough alone, Beau only seemed egged on by the apparent, albeit cryptic, honesty.  It just made me like Beau more.

        “If y’all are done whisperin’, I got us a boat,” Fjord smirked.  Oh, how I wanted to wipe that stupid smirk off his face, to just deck him and make it clear how little I wanted to put up with his false southern charm.  But I didn’t.  Jester and Beau wouldn’t be happy, Nott would probably think I was more of a bitch than she already did, and frankly, Fjord would be useful in this fight.  If I messed with him now there was a chance he'd leave us to deal with Kylre without him.  “Beau, if I give you some gold, can I trust you to come back with a bottle or two of wine?  It’s all he asked for.”

        “Sure, Fayde, you wanna come?”  It was less of an invitation and more a subtle demand.  Sure I could say I wanted to stay, but I still didn't want to be around Fjord or Caleb so I nodded and untangled myself from Molly.  “We’ll be back in a few.”

        I waited until we had two bottles of cheap wine to pull Beau into an alley.  “What was it you wanted to talk about that Jester and Molly couldn’t be around for?”

        “I just wanted to make sure you weren’t going to fuck off if you get pissed,” Beau shrugs.  “You and Caleb don’t seem super close, Nott obviously has a favorite, and you just can’t seem to get along with Fjord.  You’ve been just fine with both me and Jester, though, and you seem really attached to Molly.”

        “I’m not going anywhere until this whole mess is cleaned up, don’t worry about it Beau,” I reassured her.  “While I’m around, I’m going to try to keep everyone as safe as I can - even if I want to knock their teeth out.”

        “Then you’ve got more patience than me,” Beau grinned.  “I, ah, did have one other question though.”  I laughed and motioned for her to continue.  There was always a question.  “How much does Caleb know?”  It was an open-ended question, designed to let me decide how much to say.

        “He knows what I need him to,” I shrug.  This seemed to be enough for Beau because she nodded and led me out of the alley and back to the docks where everyone but Molly was waiting in the boat. 

***

        By the time we reach the island, the sun had set and the fisherman, his name was Noah, was half drunk.  Apparently, a witch had lived on the island about a hundred years back or so and the story still freaked out everyone who worked on the lake.  The island itself wasn't terribly big, but it did have a small grove of trees and a couple large rocks Kylre could try to blend in with.  I’m out of the boat before it’s fully stopped, the water up to my knees, my axe in my hand.  The others are still in the boat feeding some bullshit story about wanting to have a picnic on the island as I creep forward, careful to not make too much sound in the water.  The shore is rocky enough that it's a bit hard to find clear tracks, but I can see where some of the rocks have been disturbed and I’m following Kylre’s tracks before anyone else is out of the boat.  Behind me, I can hear Caleb saying he can’t see anything with Frumpkin who was currently a sparrow. Sweeping what I can see of the island, nothing is jumping out, but I can see faint tracks in the mud so I bring my copper wire ring to my lips and cast message to Molly.

        “Have everyone spread out.”  Out of the corner of my eye, I can see Beau creeping up on my left and Molly doing the same on my right.

        As we make out way into the tree line, it occurs to me the lake is at low tide, the dead fish and unearthed sediment making it hard to smell much else.  As far as I was concerned, this meant Kylre was more dangerous.  Yes, Jester could cast her spell again and close in on the fiendish presence, but the location indicated intelligence, something that did not bode well for us since he was presumably accustomed to marshy areas.  Thankfully, the ground is soft enough that our footsteps seem to be absorbed and we don't snap any twigs on the ground.  As I creep along, I spot two crustacean shells that have been fished out of the lake and are void of whatever had been living in them.  I pass the information off to Beau and Molly via message so they can tell the others that we are definitely on the right track.  About thirty more feet in, there's an opening where a small stone wall has crumbled and what looks like a small single-story structure that seems to have fallen inward, overgrown and destroyed.  It’s dark enough I can’t quite see inside what is left of the building even with my dark vision.

        Beau, apparently wanting to get some height, vaults onto what is left of the wall and then onto one of the pillars of the house.  A split second later, a shape rises up with two, glowing red eyes.  We had found Kylre.

        Molly is the first to act, drawing out his scimitars and sliding them across the back of his neck, ice crystals forming along one of the blades.  “Fayde, we want him alive, right,” he shouts, coming a bit closer so he can swing at Kylre if he gets too close.

        “Ja, we need him to be so we can get Gustav and Bo out,” I call back, holding my hands up.  “Kylre, we don’t want to hurt you!  Gustav’s in trouble and we need you to come back so we can help him.”  I can’t tell if he’s listening, but he leaps over Beau who instinctively wacks him with her quarterstaff with a resounding crack.  

        If Kylre was considering talking with us, getting smacked with a quarterstaff seemed to have changed his mind because the moment he lands he begins to growl in Infernal,  _“Come, protect me, brothers.”_   Three bursts of flame eject three imps as soon as Kylre croaks something else I cannot understand but was likely a spell.  Somewhere, a voice begins to sing and I realize Toya must be terrified.  Her voice creeps into my ears and tries to cloud my head, but I am too focused on trying to talk down the situation to be affected.  Beau must be able to see her because she leaps down from her perch and disappears behind the wall.  Rather than following my lead or attacking one of the imps, Fjord pops out from where he had apparently been hiding and shoots a blast of energy at Kylre that slams into his side, except as the spell begins to dissipate, shadows from beneath Kylre pull the remnants back and slam the residual magic into him damaging the fiend more.  Those weren’t my shadows.  My shadows were natural, faint and soft without the Voice making them darker, more solid, stronger.  These shadows that lept up and surrounded Kylre were inky black and felt wrong, sinister almost.

        Behind me, Molly gasps in pain and I swivel around just enough to see a bloodied imp try to back away from him, it’s stinger coated in blood.  Without a second thought, I flip us around and slash down with my axe, cutting the tiny demon in half, the halves disappearing in a puff of sulfurous smoke.

         _“Kylre, please,”_  I try again, switching to Infernal.   _“I know you’re scared, but we don’t want to hurt you!  We just want to help Gustav and Toya!”_

         _“You want death, not help,”_  Kylre roars, leaping into the air and landing in front of me.  With a flash of his eyes, a wave of nausea rolls over me, my vision blurs, and crackling fills my ears.  I can almost feel the flames licking at my skin, can smell the smoke. Mother is screaming, Father is calling for her.  Something is slowly tearing away at me, sucking away my energy.  I barely feel my knees collide with the ground or the liquid that burns my throat as my body convulses.  And still, I feel like I am being swallowed by flames.

        When my senses return, and the sound of flames disappears along with the burning sensation, Kylre is no longer in front of me.  Molly is kneeling at my side supporting my body and there’s blood all down his front, the taste of copper heavy on my tongue.  Toya isn’t singing anymore and I can hear the shouts of the others somewhere close by, but I can’t bring myself to move.  Everything hurts.  Every muscle burns, every bone aches, and I cannot seem to stop shaking.

        “-blood everywhere,” Molly is shouting.  “I don’t know what he did!”

        And then Jester is in front of me, her purple eyes brimming with concern as she crouches and wipes at my cheeks.  Clutching my face in her hands, she begins to murmur something I can’t quite make out but it sounds very much like a prayer.  As she does so, I feel a little better, stronger, but still incredibly sore.  Behind her, one of the imps goes to sting her, but, on pure reflex, I blast it with a blue bolt, encasing it in ice before it too disappears in a puff of smoke.  I don’t see the other imp, though, and it succeeds in stringing the blue tiefling.  Jester shudders and pales a bit, but she doesn’t seem to react more than that.  

        Above me, Molly snarls, “There is nothing but death for you here,” and the imp, already bloody from an attack I had not seen, bursts into flame.

        With a resounding crash and a flash of light, everything goes silent.  Still weak, I barely manage to stumble to my feet and look around.  About sixty feet away, Fjord stands with his falchion’s pommel facing the smoldering corpse of Kylre, the scales and flesh around the fatal wound turned to ash.  I go to stumble towards the body, but then I see Caleb face down in the dirt, unmoving.

        “Scheisse,” I spit, stumbling forward to where Nott has thrown herself over his body. “Götter, nicht er, bitte nicht mein Bruder.”  Carefully, I pull Nott off of him and roll him over so that he is on his back.  My hands are shaking as I pull a small vial out of my purse and uncork it.  “Come on, Caleb,” I mutter, forcing the vial into his mouth and draining the red liquid down his throat.    It took a moment, but his body shuddered and his eyes flickered open.

        “Caleb,” Nott cried, launching herself at him, “oh, Caleb I was so worried!”  Sighing in relief, I turned to Fjord.

        “Well, you killed our best shot at not getting convicted,” I huff.  “At least we’re all alive.”  Glaring at Kylre’s body doesn’t help my frustration any, but I know I can’t blame Fjord - not when Caleb nearly died.  “Scheisse, okay, ah…” rubbing my temples I tried to come up with a way to get us out of this.  “Okay, where’s Toya?  Please tell me she’s not hurt.”

        “I’ve got her,” Beau calls.

        “Molly, would you-”

        “Gladly,” Molly nods, scooping Toya into his arms as Beau protests.  “Beau, you’re the last person she saw.  You did the right thing, I’m not mad, she just is going to be overwhelmed and it’s best if she wakes up to a friendly face, you know?”  Grumbling Beau agrees and I turn back to Fjord.

        “Okay, I don’t think we’re going to be able to get his whole body onto the boat,” I sigh.  “Maybe we could have if he’s been alive, but at this point, anything but the head is going to be dead weight.  Gah, Fjord, can you cut his head off?  I’d do it but I feel like shit already.”

        “Yeah, you took a pretty nasty...hit?  Not - it didn't actually hit you, but it did some decent damage,” Fjord frowned.  “You need help gettin’ into the boat?”

        “Nein, just, just get the head, please.  The second we get to the docks I’m going to have to run back to the inn so the Crown’s Guard can’t pin anything on me.”  Fjord nods and I trudge back to Molly and, together, we make our way to the boat.

        We don’t talk as we walk to where the boat is waiting.  Molly is still on edge from the fight and I can see in the set of his shoulders that Kylre’s death is still processing.  Still, even his cluttered thoughts don’t stop his tail from winding around my leg.  We are barely out of the tree line when Toya begins to stir, her eyes rolling for a moment as she opens them before focusing on the lavender tiefling.

        “Molly?”

        “I know, dear.  You’ve been through a bit.  There’s been some bad business,” Molly croons, holding the child a little closer to him.

        “What happened,” she croaks, swiveling her head around.

        “A...A friend turned on us, but it’s going to be alright.  I’m going to get you home, alright?  You’re going to be okay,” Molly sighs and I get the distinct impression he is trying to soothe himself as much as he is Toya.

        “Wait,” she cries, “where’s Kylre?”  The dwarf starts squirming, trying to break out of Molly’s arms, but he just tightens his grip.

        “I’ll explain later, darling,” he murmurs.

        Toya struggles a bit harder, only to go limp once she realizes that Kylre isn’t nearby and that Molly won’t let go of her so she can go look for her friend.  “I’m scared,” she whimpers and my chest clenches.  I was old enough to push through losing my family, old enough to claw my way back to where I had come from and throw myself into my work to try and force myself to not get lost in my nightmares.

        “I know. It’s going to be a bit rough, but it was for the best.  I’m so sorry.  Some people just turn, I’m so sorry.”  I wrap an arm around Molly’s shoulders and squeeze.  He shouldn't have to do this.

        “What happened?”

        “He got sick,” Molly explained.  “There was something inside him.  There was something that made him do some bad things, but it had to be taken care of.  You’re going to be alright.”  Toya goes quiet and doesn’t struggle as Molly gets into the boat, but I can see her shoulders shaking so I shrug off my coat and drape it around her, tucking the excess fabric between her and Molly so she can hold onto it for security.

        “Oh, I see you’ve finished,” Noah the fisherman huffs, the first bottle of wine empty and left on the floor of the boat as he munches of dried bits of meat.  Behind us, Jester and Beau grunt, apparently having been the ones to carry Kylre’s head.  “What in the hell is that?!”

        “Move,” Beau grunts, climbing into the boat, while trying to keep her grip on the fiend's jaw.

        “We told you we were having a party, man,” Jester chirps, climbing into the boat with ease.

        “I didn’t know– What is that? What did you do? What is that?”  Noah scooches back in the boat in alarm, clutching his bag of jerky to his chest.  No one had apparently thought to cover Kylre’s head to keep at least a little mystery about what had happened on the island.  

        “I said we were going to be doing some frog digging,” Beau grinned.

        As soon as the words are past her lips I curse, Toya having turned to see what was being talked about.  There’s a pause before this tiny screeching sound begins to emit from Toya. This high pitched and barely audible squeak as Toya begins to scream.  Suddenly realizing their mistake, Jester takes off her cloak and tried to drape it over the severed head of Toya’s best friend, but the damage has been done.  The girl is sobbing now, her face buried in Molly’s chest, her whole body shaking with every new wail that escapes her lips.

        “Molly, come on,” I wince, gesturing to the front of the boat.  “She shouldn’t be near this.”  Molly nods and follows me to the front, Toya clutched in his arms.  “Shh, sweetheart” I soothed, rubbing her back.  “I know it hurts, I know.  Try to focus on Molly okay?  He’s got you.”  At the back, the others are discussing paying Noah to have him forget the evening, the sailor too engrossed in the poorly disguised head to pay them any attention.  Eventually, we shove off and begin making our way towards the docks.  I don’t engage in the conversation as it turns towards plans of how to bring the Lawmaster to the severed head of the former circus member and how to get Toya to tell everyone that Kylre had been the guilty party in all of this.  No, instead of participating and talking about the child that was in the boat as if she wasn't, I ignore them in favor of gently trying to calm Toya, removing the debris from her hair and fixing her mangled braids while continuing the whispered mantra of telling the child that she would be okay and that Molly would take good care of her.

        “If there’s something you want to ask me, I’m right here,” Toya sniffs, turning slightly to look at the rest of the group, clutching my coat to herself.

        “Sorry, dear.  I was hoping that we didn’t have to have this conversation in front of strangers,” Molly frowns.

        “Can someone please explain to me what’s going on?”  The shock is beginning to ebb into frustration and Molly and I go to try and calm her down a bit as Caleb begins asking questions.

        “Can you explain to us, maybe, your relationship with Kylre?  If that was his name.”

        “I mean, that’s the only name I’ve ever known him by,” Toya frowns.

        “Let’s talk about the killing part, though, ja,” Caleb says leaning towards Toya.  Instinctively, I hold my hand out to keep him at a bit of a distance.  Caleb was not used to people at this point let alone emotionally scarred children.

        “I don’t know anything about that.  When we did the show the other night, the horrible man–”

        “It turns out that that was– Kylre did that,”  Molly sighs.

        “Why,”  Toya squeaked, shrinking in on herself, fresh tears beginning to well up in her eyes.

        “I don’t know why.  Something snapped.  He’s hurt and killed a lot of people. We think that maybe he’s been making you sick too.”

        “Have you ever heard him say nergaliid,” Jester asks, remembering to keep her voice a little lower so she didn't scare Toya as much.  

        “No. Where’s Gustav?”

        “Gustav is having trouble with the authorities,” Molly explained.  “We’re going to need to all work together to save him.”

        “Unfortunately, the authorities think that Gustav and the circus are responsible for what happened.  Actually, it’s just Kylre.  He wasn’t what you thought he was, I’m afraid.”  Thankfully Fjord has adopted a slightly concerned look as he drew Toya’s attention to him.

        “The twins are being the twins, Ornna’s being Ornna, but I think we can save everybody. We just need to take care of each other.”

        “He was my friend, though,” Toya sniffs.

        “Sometimes,” I sigh, “our friends make decisions we don’t understand.  And sometimes those choices hurt us, but it doesn’t mean that our other friends are going to do the same thing.”  Toya swivels to look back at me and I wipe a little mud off her face with my glove.  “It’s sad and scary, but you have lots of friends who want to help,” I smile.  “You aren't alone in this, sweetheart, Molly and Ornna and all the other circus folk are in this with you.  So are my brother, his friend, and myself as well as these other three new friends.”  Slowly, Toya nods and leans a little more into Molly who flashed me a small smile and leaned into my side.

        “Child, how did you grow so close to him,” Caleb asks, drawing her attention back to him. This time, his voice is softer and more suited to dealing with a child than his previous accusatory tone.

        “Gustav put us together for our act and he protected me.  I felt safe around him.  He didn’t let anybody get too close I didn’t want to.”

        “Did he communicate with you in some way?”

        “He talked with me sometimes,” Toya nods.

        “What did you talk about?”

        “Well, we talked about everybody else in the family.  We talked about how I missed not having a family.  He didn’t talk about himself much, but it was mainly just little games.”

        “Did he teach you how to sing to affect people’s minds?” Jester asked.

        “No. That was how I got by before I met these guys,” Toya admitted.

        “I am sure this is painful for you.  You are young.  Sometimes, people we feel we know can be someone else.  Regrettably, this is one of those instances.  He was a dangerous thing.  It is very important that this is buried here.  You want to travel on with the circus and with Mollymauk and your friends.  That thing tried to kill us.  It did kill people in Trostenwald.  Who knows what it would have done to you, child?”  I clench my jaw and stare out at the lake.  Caleb knows all about people being different than they appear, both form his past and with our lives now.  

        After a few minutes of quiet, I look back to the group.  Everyone is avoiding looking at Toya who is curled up in Molly’s lap having apparently fallen asleep.  Before long, we reach the docks and I give Molly’s shoulders a small squeeze.

        “I will meet you at the inn, yeah?  Or the circus if I fall asleep and wake up and you aren’t back.”

        “Hold on, let me get your coat-”

        “Do not worry about it, Molly.  I can always get another coat,”  I smile.  Nodding to the rest of the group I leap out of the boat before Noah has finished tying it off and duck into the first alleyway I see, casting Disguise Self to darken my skin and change my hair and clothes.  

        Silently, I bob and weave through the town, changing my appearance twice more and circling buildings and hiding in corners to throw off anyone who might have seen me.  The whole process takes longer than if I had just walked directly from the docks to the inn, but I prefer the longer more twisted way of getting around.  Hopefully, the others were not too far behind me and someone was getting the Lawmaster.  Neither of the Crown’s Guard at the door to the inn give me a second glance as I waltz in, looking nothing like any of the people they are supposed to be keeping watch over.  

        Yorda, on the other hand, calls me over to the bar as soon as the door is closed.

        “So, what were you doing tonight, dearie,” she asks, handing me a plate of still warm food and a glass of whiskey.  Letting the spell fade away, I waste no time in digging into the food, still feeling weak from the fight only a half hour or so before.

        “Well,” I sigh, taking a long sip of the amber liquid once I had finished my food, “the thing that attacked the circus is dead.  Within a day or two, those Crown’s Guard shouldn’t be hovering in front of your doors and scaring people off.”

        “I get the impression that this is one of those situations where the less I know the better off I am,” Yorda smiles. I nod and she fills my glass my glass as soon as it is empty.  “I won’t say anything to anyone about what you all have been doing,” Yorda grins.  “It would be a shame to see such good people get in trouble for helping the town.”

        “Danke, Yorda,” I sigh.  Waving away at my attempt to pay for my food, Yorda all but pushes me up the stairs telling me to get some sleep.  I don’t argue and am about to fall asleep when something begins scratching at my door.  Sighing I get up and peak out to find a puffed up Frumpkin lashing his tail in aggravation.  “Now Caleb wants me,” I huff, pulling my boots back on and following Frumpkin along the path to the stockade.  

        I actually make it to the stockade before anyone else.  The Guard standing outside give me weird looks as I lean against the building with my arms crossed, yawning every so often for show.  Really, I’ve called the shadows to me and they cling to my back and begin to ease the pain.  After several minutes, the Lawmaster appears with Caleb and another man following her, five Crown’s Guard, and the rest of the group in chains.  Fjord is the only one missing and it looks like Molly had gotten Toya back to the circus.

        “You know, when I said I wanted you to figure out was going on, I didn't mean run off and leave me at the inn by myself.  What were you thinking,” I huff.  “Lawmaster, I am so sorry if they’ve been causing trouble.”  Norda huffs but doesn’t protest as I follow her into the stockade and into a trial room of sorts.  Norda motions for me to stay along the wall near the front and I comply, sitting in a dark corner and letting the shadows that still clung to me continue to slowly heal me.  Not a moment later, Fjord steps into the room with the two Crown’s Guard from the inn flanking him.  

        “I would like you to present what evidence you have to absolve you of these charges against you and then based on what you present, I’ll decide whether or not you’re innocent or guilty or require further investigation.  Who would like to present evidence first?”  Norda scans the group before pointing at Caleb.  “You! You brought the head of a creature!  You’re not in chains.  We’ll start with you.”  Two of the Guard bring Kylre’s head forward and drop it in front of the stone pedestal Norda has settled herself behind.  “And speaking with Zeenoth here,” she says gesturing to the man in a grey cloak that had been with her when she led the group to the building, “it appears what you said is true.  This creature is a dangerous, terrible fiend.  And looking at its apparent ability to feast on the essence of creatures, this explains the transformation of the old man. This also explains the destruction of our two guards, who were recently discovered.  Rest their soul.  So, that explains that.  Convince me as to why you were not working with this entity, especially those of the carnival.”  As she says this, Gustav, Bo, and Yasha are brought into the room.  I stiffen and look to Molly who suddenly looks sick.  We had thought Yasha had gotten away, that she was somewhere safe hiding.

        “Welcome to the chain gang,” Beau huffs, a small grin on her lips.

        “That one was caught fleeing from the scene,”  Norda said, crossing her arms.

        “No, that’s completely a misunderstanding of things. That’s not what happened,” Yasha quietly protested.

        “I’m certain.  You have a trustworthy face.  What’s the next bit of evidence you want to present, please?  Anyone?”

        “Well, first a question,” Caleb said stepping forward.  “Are you familiar with Occam’s Razor?”

        “What?”  Norda looked tired and annoyed already and if Caleb did this wrong I would have to stop in.

        “I figured.  Okay.  That one works for the circus.  Do I look like I work for the circus?”

        “Strangely,” Norda huffs, “not well dressed enough.”  I snort at that and Yasha and Molly grin.  “Your sister could be though, she was seen with them before the performance even began.”

        “No. I’m a dirty hobo and I reek like yesterday’s garbage,” Caleb shrugs.

        “I wasn’t going to go that far, but I’ll admiss it.”

        “This one,” he says pointing to Fjord, “does he look like a circus performer? Is he filthy like me?  The sardonic one, right? With the shit-eating grin.  Does she look like she works for the circus?”

        “I don’t know what she works for, but I don’t trust her,” Norda shrugs.

        “That’s probably for the best,” Beau nods.

        “I am injured within a centimeter of my life. This one is a nincompoop.”  Except Caleb is gesturing to everyone in our group and not just a specific person.  “This one, she’s my friend,” Caleb goes on, pulling off Nott’s mask, “is a goblin.”  This has suddenly become dangerous for Nott and I jump up.

        “Ma’am, if I may, she’s been with us for several months and she’s been the one taking care of and protecting us while we travel.  She may be a goblin, but she’s about as sweet a person as you can find.”  
“You trust her?”

        “With my life ma’am.  With my brother’s life every time I sleep or have to find work to get us food.  Also, ma’am, if I may, Occam's Razor is a logical principle often used in theory building. The principle states that one should not make more assumptions than the minimum needed. ”  Norda nods and jots this down as Caleb speaks up again.

        “What I am confused about is why you’re going to such lengths to defend the rights of this large, oversized frog skull.”  This sends Norda into a spluttering tizzy.

        “I defend no rights of this creature!  I’ve been in this office long enough to know that there aren’t usually solo workers on something like this. I know these folk. They all protect each other.  Who’s to say this wasn’t their whole reasoning for coming anyway, and something went wrong, and they’re letting him take the fall?”

        “You’re right,” Molly says.  “We do protect our own.  That’s absolutely true.”

        “You, sit down,” Nora snaps at Caleb.  “Let him up,” she says jabbing her finger at Mollymauk.

        “It’s a common tactic,” Molly sighs.  “It’s a good way to make your way through this world.  Normally it works.  We assumed, the circus, anyway, that we were being framed.  We were protecting our own.”  Molly glanced down at Kylre’s head and takes a shuddering breath.  “This one showed his true colors, and then we took care of it.”

        “Alright,” Norda nods, jotting this down as well.  “Why did this one run?”

        “We needed someone on the outside,” Molly explained.  “We knew we were innocent.  We knew you didn’t think so.  We just assumed you were going to have us all executed and we didn’t do anything.  What would you have done?”

        Sighing, Norda rubs her jaw and looks back at where I’m balancing on the balls of my feet, but I don’t look at her, my eyes glued on Molly.  “I want to sleep,”  the Lawmaster sighs.  “I think you’re telling the truth.  Most of you.  Archivist, does this resonate with you as well?  Does this check out, lore-wise?  I don’t know what the fuck you do.” 

        “Archivists cover a range of duties,” I supply, still keeping my gaze locked on Molly.  “Mainly they are responsible for assembling, cataloging, preserving, and managing valuable collections of historical information.  In the case of the Cobalt Soul, if that is where you are from sir, their duties extend to training monks and other historians as well as rooting out lesser known information from the Empire and the surrounding areas.”  This gets everyone’s attention and I shrug.  “I like to be informed and for a time I considered the Cobalt Soul to be a path I could take to do so.  My specialty, however, lies elsewhere.”

        “And where would that be,”  Archivist Zeenoth askes.

        “In interpersonal relations and business dealings, sir.  It’s what my Papa trained me in.”

        Turning back to Norda, the Archivist nods saying, “I believe based on what they’ve stated, at least it’s consistent with what the town has experienced.  As for the goblin, it’s not unheard of to have goblin kin turn against their own.  There have been a number of historic individuals of various monstrous races who have been beneficial members of society.”

        “Bring the two others forward,” Norda sighs.  “This is your circus right?”

        Gustav nods.  “It is my circus and I take full responsibility for what’s happened.  Sincerely.  They have done nothing wrong.  These people are completely innocent.  I brought this creature into our fold and that is on me.  Whatever judgment you have, bring onto my head, not theirs.  Please.  I implore you.”

        “Fine. I’ll consider the investigation closed,” Norda huffs, slamming her book closed.  “You’re all freed of charges against you.  Including the goblin.”

        “Oh! Thank you! I would kiss you if I could,” Nott cried.

        “I would not recommend trying. Okay. Gustav, what’s– I can’t read your last name. You’ve been given quite a debt for Trostenwald so you shall remain here until you’ve worked off the debt to the city to the number of 2,645 gold pieces.  To make up for the deaths of our two Crown's Guard, of the two civilians who have died, and the general cost of this entire investigation. We’ll consider what your work is to the city tomorrow. However, the rest of you: you’re free to go. I’m going to get a drink and then some sleep.”

        The Crown’s Guard, looking as tired as I feel, unchain everyone except Gustav and I run to throw my arms around Molly.  

        “Oh thank the gods there was an Archivist here,” I sigh, clinging to the white fabric of Molly’s shirt.  “And Yasha’s here too!  You two can take my room and I’ll sleep on the floor in Caleb’s room and-”

        “Don’t even think about it,” Molly grins.  “You’re staying with us.”

        “Yasha, it’s very good to see you again,” Jester beams as we make our way out of the stockade.

        “It’s good to see you guys, too,” Yasha said, offering a small smile.  Molly walks between Yasha and I, his tail swishing behind him and an arm slung around Yasha’s waist and the other around my shoulders.  

        “Where did you go? Were you on the lam for a long time,” Nott asked.

        “I have a little bit of a problem with authority and I didn’t want to be caught in a small and confined space and then that ended up happening.  I did not even get very far because they sent out horses,” Yasha explains.  

        “Molly,” Fjord hedges, “what do you think this mess means for the carnival?”

        “That, that is certainly a question,” Molly sighs his tail slowing.  Behind us, the door opens and Bo and Gustav step out, rubbing their wrists.

        “Well, thank you, everyone, for helping,” Gustav smiles.  “That could have been a lot worse.  And, you know, it’s fine.  I know it’s a lot of money but shouldn’t take me more than a few years.  It’s a nice town!  Trostenwald is a nice town!”

        “Gustav, I can try and get that fine paid off within the month,” I whisper so only he, Molly, Bo, and Yasha can hear.  “I don’t carry that kind of coin around on me, but I can easily send word to a very good friend and have it taken care of with no strings attached.  The circus could be on the road again with only a minimal break time.”

        “No, no,” Gustav whispers.  “I would rather pay this debt off, it is my fault for accepting Kylre into our midst and I must pay the price.”

        Realizing we were not following them, the rest of the group stopped and drifted back to where we were standing. 

        “What happens to the circus, because, you know, you cannot do the same show for the same people for a year,” Caleb asks.

        Instead of answering, Gustav claps Molly on the back and says, “Tell you what. As a thanks, we’ll grab Toya. We’ll meet you guys– where are you all staying?”

        “The Nestled Nook Inn,” Caleb and Beau chorus.

        “We’ll come meet you at the Nestled Nook and I’ll get a round for you all.  As a thank you,” Gustav smiles as he takes off towards the carnival, Bo not far behind.

        “I could use a drink,” Molly sighs, but he still has a small grin on his face and he pulls Yasha and I a little closer so I know he’ll be alright.

        Within the hour, the remaining circus folk join us at the Nestled Nook and we push several tables together so that we can all sit around and chat before bed.  We’re a full round in when Fjord suddenly slams his Trost on the table and looks at Yasha.

        “I’m sorry, Yasha, for new patrons, you’re going to have to surrender your sword.”  Everyone laughs, Yasha a bit quieter than the rest and Toya hardly at all but she still manages a laugh.

        “Careful Fjord, we haven’t been healed yet, you know.  She could take you down,”  Jester giggles.

        “You could always try to take it,” Yasha grins.

        “Arm wrestle,” Molly cheers, clapping Yasha on the back.  

        “Arm wrestle! Bets on Yasha,” Beau grinned, winking at the tall woman.  Jester and Nott start a chant to try and encourage the competition.  I could almost imagine the past few days had never happened, that we had just gotten back from that first show and that it had never gone wrong so we invited the performers for a drink.  Almost.  Most of us that had been in the fight with Kylre were still bloody and we were all exhausted, but everyone was doing their best to ignore those things.  Even Caleb had a small smile on his face as he watched Yasha and Fjord square off.

        Next to me, Toya stares at her glass of milk in silence.  “What’s going on in that head of yours, Toya,” I ask, rubbing her shoulder.

        “Is the family going away?  Am I going to be alone again?”

        “Family never really goes away you know,” I smile.  “And I’m willing to bet Ornna won’t let you be alone.”

        “Darn right I won’t,” Ornna nodded from Toya’s other side.  “It’s you and me, kid, against the world.”

        “Well, if you’d have me, you can probably use a strong arm,” Bo offers, leaning over Ornna’s shoulder.

        “You know what?  Sure.  The trio makes for a strong pack of performers. Desmond, are you in?”  The Fool smiles and shakes his head, declaring he wanted them to be a new family and that he would find his own path before knocking back his drink and leaving.  The mood dips drastically. 

        “I’m sorry for everything,” Gustav says, looking around the group.  “For all the pain this has caused you.”  He looks at Toya and grimaces.  “For all the pain it’s caused you, little one.”

        “We had quite the adventure, actually.  I know people were hurt, but that was really somethin’,” Fjord smiled.

        “And apparently, nobody really cared about Enon, so that’s, you know, good for your conscience,” Beau shrugged.

        “Everyone’s conscience is heavy with its own reasoning,” Gustav sighed.

        “Well, you get no blame from me.  What about you Fayde?”  I shake my head and grin, leaning into the outstretched arm Molly offers.  

        “I appreciate that. We are our own worst enemy, are we not?”

        “Ah, cheers to that,” Molly grinned, downing the rest of his drink.  “Hey, do any of you have plans?”  
“I have a few ideas,” I smile,  “if you’ll come with me.”

        “Molly said you were thinking of joining us,” Gustav smiled.  “You can always go with Bosun and Ornna if you like.  You guys are still carrying on.  I mean, I’m not going to keep the tent, I’m not going to keep the supplies.  I might hock some of it to try and pay off my debt, but– take what you want.  Start anew.  It’s my gift to you all.”

        “Well, I’m trying to get Fjord to the Academy,” Jester hums and I see Caleb stiffen.  If the Academy got its hands on Fjord...if Trent got involved...I may not be overly fond of Fjord but I would never let him go through what Caleb had to endure.

        “Well, I wanted to find out more about the Soltrice Academy, yes. I didn’t know what direction you were heading, Jester. I never even asked what Beau was doing here in the first place.”

        “Oh, you know, I’m just doing a walking tour? Through the continent, just kind of–Just stretch my legs a little bit.  Meeting some fine people.  Discovering myself.”

        Yasha just shrugged, saying, “No, I’m just going to float around like I usually do.”

        “What about you, Mollymauk,” Caleb asks, leaning back in his chair.

        “I don’t know where I’m going to end up now,” Molly shrugs, “but I know Fayde will be with me and hopefully I can convince Yasha to come too.”  Caleb’s jaw twitched and I pretended to not notice the glare he was sending our way.

        “Well, I don’t know about you coming with us Mollymauk, I was under the impression that you would continue with this new circus,” Caleb bit out.

        “Then maybe you shouldn’t-”

        “I’m going to go outside for a bit,” I mumble, pulling out of Molly’s arms and scurrying out the front door to the alleyway and up onto peak of the roof so no one would see me from the street.  I doubted anyone but Beau or maybe Nott would be able to make their way up here so I figured I was away from the group.  

        As soon as I’m sure I am out of sight, I pull out one of my four remaining rolled papers and let the shadows encase me, hiding me from anything beyond their warmth.  I want the Voice to be more than a faint hum whispering in my ear.  I want its deep voice to rumble around me and speak even if it is in the language I do not know.  The Voice was always so calming, so sure of whatever it told me.  With the shadows wrapped around me, I could almost imagine the Voice was nearby watching, waiting to speak when I truly needed it.  But two years was a long time for it to be silent.  Molly made it a little better, he and Papa were the only ones who seemed to help, but Papa just talked to fill the space the Voice had left behind.  Molly...Molly with his shit eating grin and constant small touches filled the silence without talking.  The tiefling seemed fine with letting me say what I wanted and not pushing further than he felt I wanted him to.  His side always seemed to be reserved just for me for whenever I wanted to retreat into him.  Had it been anyone else to start an argument with Molly I would not have left.  Had it been Fjord or Nott or anyone else I would have thrown whatever I wanted to say into the mix, consequences be damned.  But I couldn’t do that with Caleb.  Never with Caleb.

        It’s well past one in the morning when I slip back into the inn, Yorda giving me a small nod and smile as I slink up the stairs in a haze, my mind clouded over with the sweet, green smoke I had been slowly inhaling over the past few hours.  I automatically slip into the small room Yorda had been letting me use, only to find Yasha and Molly sitting on the bed.

        “Sorry, I’ll go-” I go to slip back into the hall, maybe to take advantage of the other bed in Fjord’s room, he was probably fast asleep by now anyway, but Molly moves before my hand even reaches the handle and pulls me into his lap.  He smells like blood and sweat and a little like rotting fish, but there’s still that lingering scent of incense - sandalwood like I used to buy at home for baths.  I don’t have it in me to fight my way out of his grasp so I just relax into him, letting my head nestle just beneath his chin so I can hear his rhythmic heartbeat and the rumble in his chest as he speaks.

        “Are you alright, dear?”  I just close my eyes and sigh, burrowing further into him.  “I thought not.”  Molly rests his chin on my head and rocks us back and forth a bit.

        “Bleibst du bei uns, Yahsa? Ich habe nichts dagegen zu teilen.”

        “Common, dear,” Molly hummed.

        “Oh, sorry.  I, ah, asked if you were staying with us tonight, Yasha.”

        “Yes, if that is alright.  Jester and Beau offered to share their room with me, but I wanted to stay with Molly and he said you wouldn’t mind.”  I nodded and yawned, not hearing whatever Molly said beyond the comforting rumble of his voice in his chest.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Y'all, if you haven't seen the VIDEO ANNOUNCEMENT of the Legend of Vox Machina Kickstarter Campaign you need to go check it out right the fuck now because I cried. I'm still buzzing. I made my public speaking prof watch it with me before class the next day and then made my friend watch it with me between classes. I'm just so fuckin' hyped.  
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IAi9xjcNFus
> 
> Also, for those of you who just want that sexy ass intro on loop Critical Role JUST uploaded it literally one minute ago (as I'm typing this.)  
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HUpfKPkDdRw


	6. Leaving Trostenwald

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The gang gets ready to leave Trostenwald.

  
        Once again I found myself waking up with Mollymauk in my bed, but this time we were also sharing with Yasha.  Both former carnies were already awake and talking about what they wanted to do before leaving town.  Molly was running his fingers through my hair and untangling the knots that had formed the night before, his claws lightly scratching my scalp felt fantastic.  I hummed, more than content to let him continue, and cuddled closer.

        “Good morning,” Yasha said, “I hope we did not wake you.”

        “Mmh, not at all,” I yawned.

        “Fayde’s usually the first one of us awake, actually,” I can hear the grin in Molly’s voice.  “Let’s see, yesterday morning by this time she’d gone to the bathhouse, gotten new clothes for herself and a shirt for me, and had a lovely chat with Jester and I.  You must have been very tired, my dear.”

        “I was comfortable,” I mumbled, finally opening my eyes.  Yasha was sat at the end of the bed while Molly had curled himself around the top so that my head was resting in his lap rather than a pillow.  “Did you two figure out what we’re going to do?”

        “Well, Jester invited us to go with her, Fjord, and Beauregard.  Fjord’s convinced Nott and your brother to join them, so I thought I would leave it up to you what we did since I know you aren’t Fjord’s or Nott’s biggest fan.  If we do go with them though, it looks like we would be heading Northeast somewhere.  Beau has already suggested we skip Zedash-”

        “Damn, I really need to visit that city,” I groaned.

        “Which is why I made it very clear that if we went with them we would have to go,” Molly assured me.  “Though, I would like to have an idea of why you need to go so badly, dear.  Would this have anything to do with the business partner you’ve mentioned?”

        “Ja, ja that is a big part of it,” I admit.  “It’s also the best place for stocking up on supplies and finding little jobs for coin or getting information - it’s the best city in the Empire in my opinion.  The market is way bigger than the one here and it’s filled with vendors with all sorts of stuff, the food is amazing if you know where to go and so is the drink.  Oh, and they’ve got all sorts of specialty shops depending on where exactly you look and who you talk to!”  I smiled and tapped one of the feathers curling on Molly’s jaw.  “They’ve got a few tattoo and piercing artists there too if you want to add to your collection.”

        “And how would a lady such as yourself know about these artists,” Molly grinned.  “We wouldn't be hiding some artwork of our own, would we?”

        “Maybe,” I grin, “I cannot confirm or deny such outlandish claims until such a time as you and our darling Yasha agree to not say anything to my ever so loving and expressive brother or his ever so tolerant goblin companion.”

        “I won’t say anything, what about you, Yasha?”  I looked to the woman at the end of my bed and she made a little locking motion over her lips with a sly grin.

        “Okay, so,” I sit up and conjure four orbs of light to sit in the corners of the small room, “I started getting them done when I was, gods, I think I was about twelve or thirteen when I started designing them but I didn’t start getting them until I was fifteen.”  I pull off my gloves and push up the sleeves of my shirt.  Climbing up my right arm from my middle knuckle to my shoulder were bands of delicate silver lace-work tattooing interlocking with complicated spirals of text that hid images of twin moons and the face of a fox.  On my left arm, running from the center of my palm to my shoulder and beyond, though Molly and Yasha could not see past my shoulder, was a twisted mass of deep black, ink tendrils between which bloomed flowers in bright orange, deep, vibrant red, and soft yellow, their petals shimmering in the conjured light.  “I had my right arm done in Zedash for my fifteenth birthday and I swore I would never do another piece as big and complicated, but I had been in a really bad accident and, well, I couldn’t look at my left arm without getting angry so not too long after I had my right arm done, I went to Nicodranas on the recommendation of a client and I had my left arm done there.  Since Caleb likes to keep such a low profile and he isn’t very fond of tattoos, to begin with, I always keep them covered up with my sleeves and gloves.”

        Molly and Yasha inspected the ink covering my arms, Yasha fascinated with the shimmering flower petals and complicated texts and Molly feeling the skin of my left arm with the pads of his fingers, tracing the scar tissue hidden by and incorporated into the tattoo dominating my left arm.  

        “These are very beautiful, Fayde,” Yasha smiled, leaning back against the wall.  Molly hummed in agreement but did not move away, instead, he kept ghosting his fingers over the scars.  “The flowers are very well done, how did the, erm, artist get them to shine like that?”

        “It’s a trade secret, actually,” I grin.  “It took me nearly two weeks to convince him to even take me on because of the damage to my skin and then nearly two months to get the materials he asked for because I had to travel all the way to Ank'Harel in Marquet and find a reputable seller.  What I can tell you is that the flowers are actually a mixture of ink and powdered fire opals, but I can't tell you anything else unless you want to go all the way to Nicodranas and see if the artist is still there.”

        “Marquet,” Yasha breathed, “I’ve never left Wildmount before.”

        “Oh, it’s beautiful there!  Admittedly very hot, but it’s worth the heat and the long trip to see Ank’Harel in person.  Maybe one day the three of us can go see it.”

        “You know what we can see now,” Molly smirked.

        “What?”

        “The breakfast downstairs.  I’m starving and I’m dying to know where Beau snuck off to last night.”

        “Oh, that reminds me, where did you go Fayde,”  Yasha frowned.  “You  ran as soon as Caleb and Molly started arguing.”

        “Just the roof,” I shrugged, lowering my sleeves and pulling on my gloves.  “I don’t, uh, do well in arguments with Caleb.” I don’t say that every time he gets angry I can smell the fire on his breath, the smoke clinging to his clothes.  I don’t say that looking at him when we argue makes me think about the fight we had so many years ago right before he left for school.  I don’t say that at night I see him standing in front of our house, illuminated by the glow of the fire he had set and that when we fight I think he will do the same thing to me if I go too far, say too much.  But I don’t have to because Molly nods as if he already knows all these things even though it would be impossible for him too and thwacks my arm with his tail as he pulls me up from the bed.  Yasha doesn’t ask any more questions, though I think it’s because Molly might have told her when not to push for answers.

        Downstairs, most everyone is around a table right beneath a window with drinks and half-eaten meals.  I take my place between Molly and Caleb and try to not look as awkward as I feel.  Eventually, when Molly, Yasha, and I have ordered breakfast, Beau takes the final seat at the table.  The girl looks like she’s been beaten to shit and I jump up to get her some ice for her bloody lip but she just shakes her head so I settle back into my seat.

        “Oh, fuck,” Fjord hissed when he looked up from his plate.  “Did you get horse kicked?”

        “Oh yeah, several times,” Beau grinned, wincing as she crossed her arms in an attempt to look cool.

        “Damn, how’s the horse look?”

        “Horse is fucking dead.  I ate it.”  I nearly choked on the porage I had been eating and Molly had to pat my back to help clear my throat.

        “That’s a bit excessive,” Fjord chuckled and Beau shrugged.

        “The horse is fucking fine.  Hey, Jester, do you have a bandage?  Do you have a...like a magic thing?”

        “Oh, yes! Of course, I do. I have a lot of bandages because I am a cleric,” Jester beamed, diving into her bag an pulling out a little healer’s kit.  Granted, I didn’t think all of Beau’s injuries could be solved with bandages; actually, it looked like Yasha or Jester might need to reset a bone or two.  Still, Jester did an excellent job wrapping up Beau’s sprained wrist and popping her shoulder back into place.

        “What happened to you,” Yasha frowned, inspecting Beau’s various bruises.

        “Man, it was a great night.  I had a great night!  I haven’t had a great night in a long time, you guys.  That was a great night,” Beau was grinning like an idiot, clearly reflecting on whatever had happened the night before.  I could remember being like that after a few good fights, especially when I had been feeling like absolute shit and came out on top.  But I hadn’t gotten into a proper bar brawl in at least two years.

        “With the guy you-” Fjord frowned.

        “You came in reeealy late,” Jester smiled, munching on what looked to be a stale pastry.

        “I’d like to see the other guy,” Molly grinned.

        “I might have been accepted into, like, a secret society.  It’s kind of secret society business.  It’s hard to talk about.”

        “Because you totally won’t tell us if we ask,” I snickered.  “Come on, Beau, tell us all about the top secret society you’ve been invited to join.”

        “Are you allowed to talk about it?!  Ooh, Beau tell us,” Jester trilled, bouncing in her seat.  This just made Beau’s grin wider as she leaned in and motioned for us to do the same.

        “Okay!  There are these monks and I thought they hated me, but it turns out they like me.  Turns out they want me to become a part of their gang. But it’s not really real, and they’re like, “Just keep doing your thing!  Be against injustice and seek out truth and break systems!”

        “You know,” Fjord sighs, “if the monks beat you up to make you join their gang, they’re not really your friends.”  
“Bullshit, it just means she’s good enough,” I scoff.

        “Is that why they did that to your face there?  Oh, no, they didn’t.  Apparently, they were pretty–” I shoved a piece of bacon in Molly’s mouth before he could finish his insult so as not to ruin Beau’s good mood.  If she was this happy then maybe I could convince her to tell the group to go to Zedash.

        “I wouldn’t say this woman was my friend, but I would say she’s definitely a badass,” Beau shrugged.

        “This woman, was she with the fellow that you left with last night,” Fjord asked.

        “She was. His name was Zeenoth, he was-”

        “The Archivist at the trial last night,”  I gasped.  “So this is all Cobalt Soul business then?  You’ll be joining them?  You do know they are based in Zedash right?”  I turned to Molly grinning, “Molly, Zedash!  I have to show you around once we get there!  Oh, Jester, there’s this little bakery, I don’t know if it will live up to your standards but it makes just the best Kouign-amann I’ve ever had!  It’s just this little hole in the wall type bakery, all family owned and run!”  Molly huffed out a laugh and Jester ignored me in favor of trying to get information out of Beau so I continued chattering away at Molly about the different places I wanted him to see in Zedash, so excited to be going back that I hardly noticed that I had switched to Infernal at some point.

        “Well, you know, this is very fascinating, but I have some errands to run,” Caleb sighed, stealing some bacon from Fjord’s plate and standing up.  “Nott, would you like to run errands with me?”  Nott eagerly nodded and followed him out the door.

        “I’m going to pack up and head back to the circus - start getting things together for traveling and all,” Molly said.  “Yasha, Fayde, are you two coming?”

        “Why do you want Fayde,” Beau asked.  “She wasn’t part of the circus, all her shit’s here.”

        “Because Fayde might know what we will need since she travels so much,” Molly sighed, rolling his eyes.  “Why, do you want her for something?”

        “I mean, not really,” Beau huffed.

        “Great,” Molly grinned, “then I get to keep her!  We’ll meet up with you later.”  Molly pulled Yasha and I out of the Nestled Nook and turned to me.  “Okay, so first off I want to get this blood off me.  You said the bathhouse would do out laundry if we went there?  How much is it?  We still need to get our stuff and figure out what else to take with us from the circus, but I don’t want Toya thinking this is Kylre’s blood.”

        “Oh, of course.  Erm, a single bath is five silver, but I can cover that no problem, especially since we’re going to Zedash soon.”

        “Would it be cheaper if it were a group bath,” Yasha asked.  “I don’t know if that is something you would be comfortable with, it’s just that Molly and I are very used to it and-”

        “I guess we could do that,” I shrug.  “It’s not like Caleb is going to be there, at least not in a group bath.”

        “But are you comfortable with it?”  Yasha’s concern was incredibly endearing.  Caleb never asked if I was ever comfortable with anything we did with Nott, he just went ahead and did it regardless of how I felt or if I joined him.  Nott had asked once or twice, probably more out of concern for Caleb than for my own comfort.  But Yasha, sweet Yasha who looked like she could break me in half without breaking a sweat, Yasha who Molly had introduced as being a charm, Yasha who I had barely ever spoken to, was making sure I was comfortable with something as common as a group bath.  

        “Fayde?  Are you alright?”  Molly carefully warped an arm around my shoulders, his tail twitching slightly.  “We don’t have to-”

        “No, no I’m fine, Yasha just caught me off guard a bit I guess.  I’m more than fine with a group bath,” I smile.  “It would be kind of nice actually…”

        “Excellent,” Molly grinned, “lead the way, then, dear.”  Really, I was less leading the way and more guiding Molly one way or another because the tiefling was glued to my side, his tail around my waist and an arm around my shoulders, with Yasha trailing a step or two behind.  We quickly wound our way through the small town and arrived at the bathhouse where I greeted the man I had met yesterday - a lovely man who looked as if he had been very sick as a child and never fully recovered but still had a bright smile.

        “Ah, Miss Widogast, you are back, and you have brought friends!  Will you be wanting adjoining baths?”

        “Actually, Julian, my friends and I were wondering if we could use the public bath and if you could take care of our clothes.”

        “Another accident so soon?  You really must be more careful.”

        “Oh, well, this was less of an accident and more of a ‘we dispatched of the creature who was terrorizing the town and got a little messy’ type situation.”

        Julian nodded and motioned for us to follow him down the hall opposite to the one I had gone down yesterday.  “Just leave your clothes in the basket by the door and we will have them taken care of, Miss Widogast,” Julian smiled as he left us to disrobe in a small chamber off to the side of the public bath.  The room smelled just as strongly of lavender as the rest of the building.

        I had expected to have more people in the public bath, but as Molly, Yasha, and I slipped into the water we realized we were the only ones in the room.  This, of course, led to Molly suggesting that we should have a contest to see who could make the biggest splash if we were to get out and jump back in.  Yasha, bless her, said the whole ordeal would likely upset the people who had to clean the bathhouse and that she would likely win anyway because she was so much bigger than us.  Molly only pouted for a moment before relaxing into the steaming water and closing his eyes so as to relax.  Not wanting to linger too long, I quickly wash my hair and go to begin scrubbing away the new layer of dirt and blood when Yasha’s soft voice breaks the silence.

        “You’ve got a lot of scars.”

        “So does Molly,” I shrug, glancing over to where the tiefling is floating on his back, glorious tattoos on display.  “And so do you; lots of people have scars.”

        “I guess, but your accent isn't as thick as Caleb’s,” Yasha frowns.  “The siblings I have met all have similar voices or accents.”

        “I wasn’t at home as much as he was, I actually left just after I turned twelve.  You weren’t here when I told Molly, Jester, and Beau, but I worked for a long time as a monster hunter of sorts after I left the circus I had been traveling with.  That kind of job isn’t easy and I got hurt plenty of times.”

        “Fayde, I’ve done my fair share of fighting, I know the difference between scars from monsters and scars from weapons.”

        “There are all kinds of monsters, Yasha, and not all of them are creatures.”

        “What’s a monster to you then?”

        I let the question hang for a moment as I tried to find a simple answer.  There were all sorts of ways to explain what I did, monster hunter was just the easiest facet to give to people because they didn’t usually ask any other questions.  I only answer when my skin begins to sting with how much force I had been using to scrub.  “Slavers,” I sighed, settling on the simple truth, “those who kill innocent people and destroy culture for their own personal gain.  People who force others to bend to their will under threat of harm, who strip others of their free will and manipulate and torture and find pleasure in it.  I do take care of other types of monsters, creatures that prowl in the woods or the outskirts of towns and cities, but people can be...people are so much more dangerous than the vast majority of creatures.”

        “Does Molly know?”

        “Molly has ears, dear, he knows.”  I smirked at the former performer and splashed him, startling him enough that he sunk beneath the water. Spluttering, Molly resurfaced with a wolfish grin, “Fayde, dear, if you’re not going to relax in such a nice bath-”

        “You better be asking her to wash your hair and nothing else Mollymauk,” Yasha grinned.  I snickered, pulling myself out of the bath and padding over to where a shelf held several different jars of soap and oil.  Sniffing a few, I settled on a soap that had a soft flowery scent and sat back on the edge of the bath, my legs submerged to the knees as my feet found purchase on the ledge that ran along the pool.

        “Come here you lila Teufel.”  Molly wasted no time in paddling over and nestling himself in front of me on the ledge below the water’s surface, his tail finding its usual place around my leg.  Slowly, I worked out the knots in Molly’s hair, taking care to pick out the larger pieces of debris and not let them fall into the bath.  I had to be careful to not tangle the fine chains dangling from his horns with his hair, but Molly didn't seem to mind the slow pace, letting his head rest against my knee and closing his eyes.  I nearly forgot Yasha was with us as I worked, enjoying the little sounds Molly made when my nails scraped against his scalp or when I added just a little more pressure to the base of his horns and the nape of his neck.  The room was warm enough that I wasn’t cold with only my legs in the water and since there was only the three of us I wasn’t uncomfortable with being so exposed.  Like anything else I did with Molly, the whole situation felt natural, like I had been doing this for years.

        “I’ve been curious, dear,” Molly murmured, pushing his head back into my fingers so they dug a little bit more at the base of his skull,  “how long were you and Caleb apart?”

        “Meine Güte, lass mich nachdenken...I would say the better part of sixteen, seventeen years.  I saw him once or twice after I started working, but at some point between work and being so far from home and his studying and just life, in general, there was a good fifteen-year gap where I didn't see him at all.”

        “That must have been hard,” Yasha frowned.

        “Eh, I didn’t really think about it much after a while.  We didn't get along as children so it wasn’t like I was, you know, missing out on anything particularly important.  Besides, I’m stuck with him now if I want to stay with Molly.”  I playfully flicked the tiefling’s temple and he stuck his forked tongue out before sinking beneath the water to wash the soap from his hair.

        “But don’t you miss your home?  Your parents?”

        “Yasha, my parents, how can I say this, they are not people I miss - the only part of them I miss are the stories my mother told me and Caleb when she would put us to bed.  My home though...that I do miss, but we are going to Zedash soon, ja?  Then I will be in the home I made and I won’t miss it anymore!”

        Resurfacing, Molly pulled himself out of the bath and dried himself off, tossing his towel to Yasha as she left the warm water and draping another towel around my shoulders.  “Yasha, can you see if our clothes are done since you kept all of yours?”  Nodding, Yasha left to get dressed and find Julian.  Once the door closed behind her Molly sat cross-legged at my side and rested his chin on my shoulder, his tail trailing up and down my back in strange little loops.  “I love Yasha, but you don’t have to answer her questions if you don’t want to,” he murmured, breath warm against my skin.

        “She’s just curious, mein Süsser,” I hummed.  “I am, after all, a very interesting person.”

        “Mhm, that you are dear.  You also happen to be very comfortable, much more so than the pillow we’ve been using.  I might,” an arm wound around my waist, “just be tempted to,” he nuzzled his nose into the side of my neck, “use you as a pillow,” his breath fanned across the back of my neck, “while we’re on the road.”

        “And what about when we get to towns and cities,” I breathed, my fingers finding the ones digging into my waist.  “You’ll have plenty of comfy pillows in Zedash.”

        “Maybe, but I would much rather keep you.”  I could feel Molly smile as his fingers moved to twine with mine, could feel as his lips ever so lightly brushed against my neck when he spoke.  I was acutely aware of the sudden blossom of heat in my chest and at the small of my back, of the prickling in my arms, of the sudden whispers that crept into my ears that I had only been accustomed to hearing at night.  Safe.  Molly is safe and good and, gods, comforting.

        “I wouldn’t be...opposed to that, just so long as you return the favor, darling,” I hummed, letting my other hand find its way to the nape of Molly’s neck and my fingers twist into his damp hair.

        “Good,” he purred, a sound that resonated deep from within his chest and sent tingles down my spine and made my ears ring.  “I would be more than happy to-”

        “The clothes are clean when you two are ready,” Yasha said from the doorway, a bundle of cloth in her arms.  

        “Thank you, dear,” Molly smiled, his head whipping around to face her.  “We’ll be there in just a second.”  As soon as Yasha’s head disappeared, Molly huffed out a laugh.  “She’s such a mom sometimes, but I love her anyway.  Come on, we shouldn't keep poor Jester waiting too long.”

        The heat slowly beginning to fade, I got up and hesitated a moment before kissing Molly’s cheek and leaving the bath altogether.

        It took about half an hour to gather everything we needed from the circus, and even then I didn’t mention most of what we would need from what was left of Molly’s old life because Ornna, Toya, and Bo would be needing most of it, but we did snag one of the carts and a horse so we didn't have to carry everything on our backs as we traveled.  As soon as we finished at the circus, we headed to Natural Remedies to meet Jester, Fjord, and Beau.

        The small, shack-like building emitted a pungent fungal smell, even before we entered.  Along the outside, just where the door opened, hung about a dozen different herbs left to dry beneath the overhang.  

        “You are all wet,” Caleb frowns when he and Nott joined us as we stepped inside.  

        “We stopped by the bathhouse for a quick wash,” I shrug, looking over the shelf just inside the door lined with various flora and fauna that were being cultivated for various remedies and means of selling to anybody who wanted to come by and procure herbal medicines.  “Given your distinct lack of dirt and your wet hair, I would say you and Nott did the same.  You know, she hates water.  I hope you didn't make her get in the bath - I doubt she can swim.”  Caleb’s jaw twitched and he stormed off to where Nott was inspecting a clump of fungus growing on the wall.

        Jester and Molly are already engaged with the shop owner, a young man with tanned skin and ratty, brown hair.  Knowing Molly probably doesn't have a lot of money, and doubting Jester would be willing to haggle down prices, I joined them at the counter, standing on my toes behind Molly with my arms looped around his middle and my chin just barely resting on his shoulder.

        “We have a handful, that is correct.  How many are you looking to purchase,” The shopkeep asked.

        “Weeel, how many do you have?”

        “Four…”

        “Ooh, that will last us probably, like, a day...maybe,” Jester frowned.

        “Not if you all stop running headlong into dangerous situations,” I smirk.

        “What do you do for a living?”  The poor shopkeeper looked vaguely horrified as he asked.  

        “We’re superheroes,” Jester beamed.

        “Sword jugglers,” Molly grinned.

        “Crazy people,” I smirked.

        “Why would– Fine, who am I to ask?”  He went to grab something beneath the counter when Beau pushed past us.

        “Hey, man, look at this bruise,” she grunted, thrusting her arm in his face.

        “Look, I cut fungus for a living-”

        “Look! It’s in the shape of a dick!”

        “I’m not going to ask.  Four?  Did you want them?”

        “Sure, yes. How much for four healing potions?”

        “For four healing potions...340 gold pieces,” the salesman said.  Jester nodded and went to pull out her purse when I snatched it and leaned against the

counter.”

        “Are you selling us basic potions, greater, superior, or supreme potions?  Where did you get them?  What makes you think they are worth 340 gold?  Are you willing to offer a package deal if these are proper potions?”

        “Fayde, I don’t mind paying-”

        “I will pay a fair price, I will pay more than a fair price, but these people” I whispered, gesturing to Molly, Jester, and Beau behind me, to Caleb and Nott looking at the shelves, to Fjord, leaning against the door looking bored but chatting with Yasha, “do not know what that would be.  From where I stand, that puts each potion at eighty-five gold pieces per potion.  Now, that’s cheap as hell for a greater healing potion but way too expensive for a basic potion.  Now, what do you have and how much are they really?”

        Slowly, his hands shaking slightly, the man placed four small bottles on the counter, half full with familiar red liquid.  “I have four ba-basic potions, ma’am.  I can give them to you for two hundred gold, no less.”  Jester nodded, handed over the gold, and scooped up the bottles, putting them in her bag.

        “I appreciate the attempt, friend, but from the looks of you, I’ve been doing this about as long as you’ve been alive.  Scale down the mark-up a bit and try again with another customer.  Have a nice day.”  I placed forty gold on the counter and turned to Molly.  “Shall we?  I’m dying to get to Zedash!”

        “In a moment, dear, I want to see if this gentleman has anything else,” Molly smiled, slinging his arm around my shoulders.  “Healing potions aside, you are doing something really interesting and exciting here.  You’re not a healing potion dealer.  What are you doing here?  Like, this is fascinating.”

        “Oh, well, I create all sorts of means of tending to wounds and loss of stamina.  To be honest, a lot of people come around here for performance-enhancing fungus.”  He still looked nervous that I was in the shop still, but Molly’s lazy smile and wide, red eyes and slowly swishing tail seemed to interest him.  

        “I don’t know, I feel like you can excite me,” Molly smiled, his tail picking up a little speed and his grin exposing his sharp teeth.  I found the display endearing, but I couldn’t be certain about the half-elf.  “I feel like there’s something that you have to show that’s really exciting.  I’m not entirely sure it’s all about stamina, I think you’ve got something– you did that on purpose. Talk to me like I’m a child, show me something I’ve never seen before.  Look, you were honest with my friend here, so I’ll be honest with you, I’m fishing for drugs.  I’ve been on the road a long time and I’m a bit rusty.”  The half-elf glanced to the door, his fingers twitching slightly.

        “Molly, dear, will you close the door, I think the nice man would like a little privacy for a moment,” I grin.  Molly happily skips to the door and gingerly closes it before returning to my side, leaning on the counter.

        “You certainly keep curious company.  You’re going to Zedash?”

        “We are, and we’re leaving today...in a few hours or less if a certain human gets her way.  Really, I’m not one to get in her way, just look how cute she is when she’s excited.”  I had to fight down a blush when Molly ran a taloned finger across my cheek.

        “Those are magical words for a man of my business,” the man sighed.  “Are you a fan of skein?”

        “I don’t actually know what that is,” Molly grinned, “but I am sure you can enlighten me.”

        “Well then,” the half-elf ducked into a small room behind the counter, returning with a small satchel with a familiar finely dried, dusted material on the inside, with a grayish-blue color to it.  “This is a dried and ground fungus called skein.  It’s called skein because when you eat it you can see the weave of time.”

        “Is that what skein means,” Molly asked, his head cocking to the side like a dog would.

        “It’s a woven skein, it’s a joke on fate–never mind.”

        “I thought it was very clever,” Molly grinned.

        “Thank you very much,” the man smiled, finally seeming to relax a little.  “It’s effective and pretty popular on the outskirts where it’s not so heavily controlled and carries a huge jail-time if caught.  How much are you looking to purchase?”

        “I’ve got to be honest, I’m not made of money, but I’m always curious for a new experience.”

        Grinning, I lean over the counter and crook my finger to beckon the man closer.  “It may not be quite in your wheelhouse, but if you would be willing to knock off a gold or two I could share a little something I’ve got in my purse with you,” I whispered, low enough that even if Molly strained his ears he might only be able to catch a word or two.

        “And what might you have that I would be interested in?”

        “Have you ever had Wing?  And I don’t mean the cheap pass off some kid is growing - I mean the properly grown and cultivated stuff.”

        “I’ve...heard of it, but that’s...you have some on you?”

        “I’ll give you a roll if you knock a little off my friend’s price.  He’s been having a really tough time lately and I think a little plane shift would be just the right kind of experience for him.”  I reach into my purse and pull out the smallest of the three rolls left and put it on the counter.  “This, for first time users, can last you two, maybe three uses if you don’t smoke it whole.  Or, if you would rather, you could unroll it and bake it in something or slip it in your evening tea.”

        Taking the roll, the half-elf slips it into his apron pocket, a giddy smile on his face.  “Tell you what, friend,” he said, addressing Molly, “your friend gave me a fair trade so I’ll give you enough for two ‘experiences’ for free - any more and it’ll be a gold per use.”

        “What did she give you,” Caleb snapped, coming up the counter.

        “Something useful,” the shop owner grinned.  “I’ll even give you this,” he hands me a small opake vial, “for fun.”  

        “Well, I think enough for...five experiences would be great,” Molly smiled, placing three gold on the counter.  “And of course we never met you, you never met us…”        

        “Davies,” the half-elf says, measuring out five uses of skein and handing the pouch to Molly.  “Have a safe journey to Zedash.”  Molly grinned and whisked me out of the small shop with a flurry of his glorious coat, Jester skipping along behind us.

        “So, north we go,” the blue-skinned tiefling chirps, unfolding a large map.  “We can stop in Alfield and then go to Zedash, but I think our main goal should be to eventually get to Hupperdook, you guys!”

        “Oh, Jester, you’ll love Hupperdook!  There isn’t much to see during the day, per se, because there’s a lot of construction but...you know what, I won’t say anything else so that it’ll be a  surprise when we eventually get there!”

        “How far is it to Zedash,” Fjord asked, looking over Jester’s shoulder at the map.  

        “Oh, from here, I’d say about two hundred miles?  If we walk twenty miles a day, and we don’t have to stop for too long anywhere, I’d say it’s about ten days give or take, but that’s just if we follow the road,” I shrugged.  “Alfield is more of a stop along the way, I think the only times I’ve been were to stop at the inn for the night on my way to the coast.”

        “But we have a horse and a wagon,” Molly pointed out.

        “We do, but that’s only one horse to pull a wagon.  Most of us will have to walk, but we could certainly take turns in the cart as the day goes on.”

        “I think,” Caleb said, catching up to Molly and I, “that ten days is a decent time to decide if we should all continue traveling together.”

        “I would say so,” Molly agreed.  “And if we don’t like it, or we can’t get along, we can separate once we get to Zedash, isn’t that right Mr. Caleb?”

        “Yeah, free to go at any time. As long as it serves everyone, we’ll stay this way,” Fjord nodded.

        “I think I need to stay here just a little bit longer,” Yasha said from the back of the group.  Molly frowned and held me a little tighter, but didn't say anything.  “But I will meet you guys there at some point?”

        “Why, what’re you doing?” Nott asked, blinking her lamp-like eyes up at Yasha.

        “Do you have something else to do,” Caleb frowned.

        “I just don’t think I can leave here until I’m told I can,” Yasha shrugged.

        “By the authorities,” Nott scowled.

        “No, I just-”

        “You’re so mysterious!”

        “I have things that I need to do–”

        “Name one!”

        “You know where we’re headed, dear,” Molly sighed.  “Do try to be safe, will you?”

        “I will, Molly, I just need to talk to someone about what my next step should be now that the circus has disbanded.  Fayde, you’ll keep an eye on him for me, right?  Make sure he doesn’t do anything too dangerous?”

        “Of course, but only if you promise to do the same, Yasha,” I nodded.  

        “Good, good.  When you get to Zadash, maybe send me a note, or maybe I’ll be there already. I just have to do a couple things…”

        “Don’t worry about it, Yasha,” I assured her.  “We all understand.”  

        Eventually, when we reached the edge of town where Molly, Yasha, and I had parked the cart, Yasha hugged Molly goodbye and wandered off to do whatever it was she needed to do.  Jester and Beau were off running a last-minute errand, but I had said goodbye to Yorda when we were moving the cart and gathering our things from the inn.  Nott was sitting at the front, talking to the horses in halfling while Caleb and Fjord had their heads together a little ways off discussing something clearly meant to be kept private.  Molly and I were content to stand together, the tiefling’s tail firmly wrapped around my leg, talking about random little things that probably won’t matter outside of this moment.

        “Dear, what did you give Davies earlier?”  There wasn't any suspicion in his voice, no underlying tone that indicated that he was annoyed or that I had done something he was uncomfortable with.  No, as with most things, he seemed simply curious.

        “I think it goes without saying that you can’t tell Caleb and Nott,” Molly nodded as if this were quite obvious.  “I gave him a roll of a different drug called Fairy’s Wing.  It’s just this pleasant little herb that makes everything softer and easier to handle.  A little addictive, but it’s probably one of the safest drugs out there if it’s handled the right way.  I’ve still got two rolls in my purse, but they need to last us until we get to Zedash.”

        “Us?”

        “You think I would hoard it, Süsser?  You wound me,” I laughed, careful to keep quiet so as not to attract attention from the others.  “Of course it’s for us, what is mine is yours, darling.”

        “You know, I rather like the sound of that,” Molly grinned.  “I meant what I said earlier, if you aren’t comfortable traveling with Caleb and Nott, we can leave them in Zedash and it can be just the two of us.  We’ll stick around for Yasha and whatever you want to do and then we can just go.”

        “Mollymauk-”

        “Ah, we’re being serious now.”

        “When we get to Zedash, there is a very, very good chance that you won’t see me for a day or two.  It’s my home, where I base my work, but not every - I shouldn’t-”

        “What don’t you want me to see?  Fayde, dear, you hunt people for a living, I know this.  You’ve got access to information you shouldn’t have, access to good drugs, all you have to do is smile at anyone you want and they are instantly wrapped around your finger.  You get power from something that isn’t you even though you’re a sorcerer and Caleb told you that you weren’t natural because of that.”

        “And yet you haven’t left,” I laughed.

        “And as long as I have a choice I won’t.  Look, if there’s something you don't want me to see in Zedash-”

        “It’s not that I don’t want you to see anything,” I sighed, “I just want to wait.  I want to be sure that I’m not putting you in a situation that you can’t get out of if you don’t want to be involved in what I do.  And it’s already been tricky enough to keep Caleb and Nott from knowing anything...if we don’t all split up in Zedash I’ll have to figure out a way to keep the whole group from getting too involved.  Bringing everyone to Zedash might be a terrible idea- hell it could get half of them killed, but I need to go.  It’s...it’s like...”

        “Hey, hey it’s okay,” Molly soothed, hugging me to his chest and running his fingers through my hair.  I hadn’t realized how fast my breathing had gotten, how much control I had let slip.  “We’ll be careful.  I will try to keep them occupied when you aren’t around to keep them out of whatever you’ve got going on.  We can, no, we will make his work.  No one’s going to die, not on my watch.  Alright?  Can you look at me, dear?”

        I tilted my head up to meet the gentle gaze of Mollymauk Tealeaf.  His eyes, entirely red and, to some, terrifying, were somehow soft.  They crinkled at the edge a little, the lines permanent from his constant smiling - but there was no smile on his face now, not even a grin or a smirk.  His lips were drawn into a small, concerned frown, his perfectly sculpted eyebrows drawn together.  I much preferred when the man smiled, but the gentle concern was oddly beautiful.  Slowly, though, he did smile - a small careful thing that felt far too private for where we were.

_“We’re going to Zedash, dear - your home.  Smile, be excited.”_

        “Fjord,” Nott called from the cart, “something in me says that, for some reason, you should be the one who tells the horse and wagon to go.”  Molly chuckled and spun me in his arms, but kept me against his chest, his tail finding it’s home around my leg.  “ It just seems– you’re the biggest, maybe?”

        “Not the biggest,” Molly snickered and I gently slapped his hand.

        “That is mighty considerate of you, Nott.  Are you sure you don’t want to take a crack at it,” Fjord asked, eyeing the horse nervously.  

        “I could take a crack at it,” Nott nodded.  “The wagons be hitched, hee-haw.”

        “Oh, gods, maybe we ditch them now,” I grimaced as Fjord saddled up next to the cart, hands on his hips and chest puffed out.

        “Use your diaphragm. Really get a yee-haw, get in there,”  the half-orc said.  

        “You mean you don't want to see how horrible this whole thing will end up?”

        “Horrible indeed,” I hummed.  “We don't even have Jester and Beau yet!”

        “Saddle up your doggies, hee-haw,” Nott squawked.

        “Oh shit, what are they trying to do?”  I turned my head to see Beau and Jester jogging up.

        “I think Fjord is trying to teach Nott how to get the horse to move?  I...I really don't know,” I laughed.

        “One more time,” Fjord encouraged.  “Ready?  On the count of three.  One, two, three!” Just as Fjord said three, and Nott tried to give a strong ‘Yee-haw!’ Fjord pushed her chest in to try and help her.  Except the sound she produced was more of a screech than anything so we all ended up running after the wagon as the horse bolted away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ...Rub-a-dub-dub Molly did some flirting in the tub 👀


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Traveling! Fire! Trama! Also, Molly cuddles because our boi (in my mind) is tactile as all hell.

        Somehow, we managed to not kill each other on the way to Alfield. Molly entertained Jester for a while on the first day with sword juggling, but after a while, I ended up summoning Trogal and setting him on Jester’s shoulders to keep her occupied. Oddly enough, though Trogal liked Jester, though he wasn’t nearly as enamored with her as he was with Molly - a fact which the lavender tiefling delighted in. That first day was almost relaxing, Molly was the only one to walk with me, Fjord and Nott were at the front driving the horse while Caleb, Beau, and Jester were in the bed of the wagon, chatting - or, in Caleb’s case, reading.  About mid-day, we crossed paths with a caravan on its way to the Menagerie Coast and a few hours later we all stopped so Caleb could send sparrow Frumpkin to look around from the sky while Molly, Beau, Jester, and I made a game out of climbing a nearby tree. Even our first evening camping was surprisingly calm. Jester and Nott took the first watch, but beyond that, I don’t know who stayed up because I was never tagged to take watch.  

        Molly, as he said he would, did end up using me as a pillow, resting his head on my stomach as I used his pack as my pillow and ran one hand through his soft, purple hair while the other shuffled and pulled cards for my daily reading. When the Tower, the Moon, and Death came again I sighed and did my best to curl around Molly for comfort. I didn't know what the Voice was trying to tell me. Caleb gave us a look I couldn't quite decipher, but I was quite comfortable. Trogal was curled at my back, ready to keep watch for the night like that good fiend he was, and Molly was warm and his horns were curved in just the right way that they didn't jab at me quite the way Jester’s would if she tried to do the same thing. He even was alright with us being as far away from the fire as we could be without leaving the safety of Caleb’s alarm spell so that I could feel just a little closer to the shadows.

        The next morning was not as calm. I was the first one awake and Molly, who had taken the last watch shift, helped me put together a small breakfast of food Yorda had given me before we left. Beau and Jester were the next to wake followed by Caleb and then Nott, but Fjord stayed asleep until most of us were done eating. When he did wake, it was in a violent rush. The half-orc bolted upright, choking and Jester and I sprinted over, the tiefling asking him if he was alright while I patted his back as he coughed up water.  

        “Yeah. No, I’m fine,” Fjord wheezed, still bent over, water dripping from his mouth.

        “Yeah, you look it,” Molly snarked, smelling the water Fjord had coughed up.  _“Fayde, this is salt water.”_

        “What happened, Fjord,” Jester asked, crouching in front of the half-orc and feeling his cheeks, neck, and forehead. “You don't feel like you’ve got a fever or anything.”

        “I had a dream, a vivid one. I’m sorry. Just shook me to my core a little. I’ll be fine, really. It’s not a common thing,” Fjord tried to reassure us, but Caleb was giving him that ‘I don't believe a word you’re saying’ look he gives me sometimes. Even Beau looks like she doesn't completely trust him.

        “Why the water though,” Jester frowned.

“You never told me where you got that sword,” Beau grunted. “I mean, because I saw it get a little soggy, a little drippy when we were fighting the frog thing, so, you know.”

Fjord looked to where the sheath for his sword lay beside him, empty. “Yeah. That sword is a pickle.”

        “It’s a pickled sword? Are there benefits to pickling your weapons,” Beau smirked. Nott and I groaned at the pun and shared amused looks. Maybe this whole traveling in a group thing would put her a bit more at ease.

        “He’s not wrong, though. It actually is a pickle. You can taste it,” Molly said, dipping his finger into the small pool of water and bringing it to his lips.

        “Oh, gods, Molly,” I winced, “don’t...don't taste it! That’s so gross!” But then Beau was doing the same and nodding and Jester was smiling and talking about how much she liked pickles and all I could do was put my head in my hands and laugh because Fjord was coughing up seawater hundreds of miles from the sea and all we could do was crack jokes about pickling weapons.

        “Are you all right, Fjord? I mean really alright, not just saying you are to get us to leave you alone?” I hadn't expected Nott to be the one to ask the question, but she seemed okay with Fjord and genuinely concerned about the situation.

        “Yeah, I just...I feel funny. Caleb, you remember me asking you about your arcane prowess?” Caleb nodded and I could practically see his brain kicking into gear with the way his eyebrows scrunched together and the left corner of his mouth caught between his teeth. “My small experience with the arcane came to me around the same time that sword did.”

        “How long ago was that,” Caleb asked, leaning against the wagon.

        “Not too long ago. Very recent, actually, right before I met up with Jester.”

        “Were you in the ocean,” Nott asked, eyes wide in either fear or interest, I couldn't quite tell.

        “Yeah, I was. Did a lot of merchant sailing, previously. Had one trip that didn’t go so well. Suffice it to say, after it was done, I found that sword,” he explained, pointing to the empty scabbard.

        Beau frowned and shoved a piece of bacon in her mouth. “What happened on the trip? Rough waters?” Fjord nodded stiffly. “Did anyone die?”

        “Yeah,” Fjord croaked, “I’m not real comfortable talkin’ about it”

        “What about the sword,” Caleb frowned. “You said you found it on the ocean, you found on the boat you were on? You were on an island? What do you mean?  _Fayde, I do not like this. You know unnatural magic, what is this?_ ”

 _“My magic is completely natural, brother,”_  I sighed, the Zemnian easily falling off my tongue.  _“It...his magic is not what I am used to, neither inherent like mine nor learned like yours. Perhaps it’s been taken or gifted.”_

        “I found it on the shore,” Fjord frowned. “When I got back to land, it was just there. I’m not super familiar with a ton of weaponry– the sword I know, I had some training in it, but this seemed like a unique sword. I felt like it almost called to me. I know how that sounds, but when I picked it up, seemed like everything changed. Ever since, I’ve been able to do more things - been able to reach out with some of the stuff I’ve seen you do. That’s why I’m trying to make it up to the Academy. I’m trying to figure out what it is that I have.” Fjord glanced around the group, pausing on a very curious and concerned Jester. “I don’t mean to alarm any of you, really. I’m trying to be as forthright as I can.”

        “I believe you Fjord,” I smile. “It’s just that there are so many different kinds of magic that - and I know you don't want to hear this - maybe the sword wants you to think it’s better than it is. I’ve read a fair bit about cursed items, about how they get into the wielder’s mind and twist it.”

        “Where is the sword right now,” Molly asked, his tail tightly coiling around my leg and pulling me closer to him so that I take a step away from Fjord.

        Fjord looks to the empty scabbard and then to his open palm. In a flash of greenish-blue, teal energy the sword appeared in his grasp, the smell of saltwater materializing on the breeze for an instant just as the sword appeared. Barnacles are encrusted around the edge and the back of the blade, as it begins to drip water.

        “You can see why I’m a little curious about this item,” Fjord sighed, turning the blade in his grasp.

        “I don’t even need to touch it,” Caleb said, creeping closer to Fjord, his eyes glued to the blade, “but would you trust me to study it for a moment?”

        “Do you have experience with items like this,” Fjord asks. “Do you, Fayde? You seem to know a lot about all sorts of different things.”

        “I’m good at figuring things out. I’m clever,” Caleb shrugged.

        “I might be able to help you with that. I was obsessed with underwater life and mermaids, so I’ve read a few books,” Beau offered.

        “I’ve got a few ideas,” I admit, “but I would much rather narrow down the possibilities before I suggest anything.”

        “Fjord,” Jester spoke up, “do you think you’re turning into water?” Fjord paled, but Molly and I burst into laughter, leaning into each other.

        “No. I hadn’t considered that terrifying thought, but thanks. I’ll just add that to the fuckin’ list,” Fjord sighs.

        “We-ell, if you feel like it’s happening, let us know and we’ll try to catch you in a jar.”

        “In a jar,” Fjord choked.

        “Unless he runs away,” Molly sniggered.

        “We’re not going to let you run into the dirt,” Nott assured Fjord, patting his shoulder.

        “Has that happened to you before, by the way? The whole, “waking up coughing saltwater” thing,” Beau asked.

        Fjord shrugged and Jester said, “I’ve never seen him wake up with water all over him.”

        “If you’re going to vomit something, salt water’s pretty decent,” Molly shrugged, turning away to pack his bedroll. “It could have been way worse.”

        “Of all things, it’s way better than vomit,” Jester agreed, putting out the small fire.

        “Oh, it’s far superior. Already, you’re proving to be an asset,” the lavender tiefling grinned, tossing his bedroll and bag into the wagon and patting Fjord’s shoulder.

        “If we get really thirsty, we’ll just come to you in the morning,” Jester beams.

        “You can’t drink– Jester, the saltwater makes you thirstier. You grew up on the coast, you should know this,” I laughed. Jester whispered a small “oh” and Molly smiled sympathetically.

        “It feels like you should be able to, but you can’t.”

        I stared at Jester as she leaned against the cart, her usual smile back on her face as if nothing strange had happened. It was like she’d flipped a switch in her head and had just decided that everything was fine and this was a normal morning. She was older than I had been when I started working and living out of a bag part-time, but she was adapting so much quicker than I had. Molly seemed to be doing the same thing, joking with Nott and Beau about the horse’s name being Winter’s Crest because that had been when the carnival had planned to eat the poor beast. Of course, while Molly was bullshitting the girls, I had done similar things while on the road if I was out of rations, a long way from any sort of town, and couldn’t find anything to hunt or any safe vegetation to scrounge. The saltwater incident was not mentioned the rest of the day and if it weren’t for the little glances the others were sending Fjord I might have been able to say that by the time the sun was at its pique, everyone had forgotten about the whole thing.  

        Like the day before, Molly and I walked with the cart while the others opted to scrunch together in the relatively small space. Jester didn't need Molly’s entertainment today though, too occupied with her sketches to pester for someone to keep from becoming bored. I used the distraction to do my morning reading - again it was the Tower, the Moon, and Death. Throughout the day Molly occasionally bounced off for a moment or two to stand in one of the fields and survey the flowers growing there before carefully selecting one and slipping it into his hair. It drew Beau’s and Fjord’s attention every time he did this, making Beau tense and Fjord slow the cart just a little. If Molly noticed this, however, he didn’t seem to care, returning every time with a satisfied grin and just a little more energy in how his tail curled behind him. Most times, Molly would ask about the name of whatever flower he’d picked because he wanted to be able to tell Yasha about the flowers he’d found. Most of the time I didn’t know the names of whatever he picked up, telling him they were just wildflowers, but eventually, he got bored with that answer so I began teaching him words in Zemnian to describe them.  

        As the sun began to set, we discussed maybe stopping for the night to give the horse, Nott had decided to call it WC, a rest. In the end though, after pulling out the map and letting me quickly figure out just how far we had managed to travel, we decided to press on. We were only an hour or so from the town and by the time the sun had mostly set, we could see a faint glow from the rolling fields where Alfield was.  

        “Something’s wrong.” Fjord slowed the cart to a crawl and everyone turned to look at me, Beau and Caleb squinting in the darkness. “We shouldn't be seeing a glow yet, Alfield’s too small.” The group brushed it off, Molly suggesting that maybe the town had grown a little in the time since I had been, but when we were about half a mile away I shivered, a horrifyingly familiar scent barely present in the gentle breeze. “Fire,” I croaked, my stomach dropping. No one seemed to have heard me besides maybe Molly who was the closest, but a small twitch of the ears indicated he hadn't heard what I had said. My limbs going cold and dread clutching my chest I forced my voice to be louder. “Guys, fire!”

        The response is immediate. In the cart, Caleb pales and look around wildly for the flames that are not yet visible, but I know the second he finds the smell of smoke because he looks like he’s about to be sick. Nott, ever attentive to Caleb’s moods and needs, tenses and reaches for her crossbow in case of an immediate threat to her boy, unaware the issue is rooted deep in his mind. Jester and Beau share worried looks and hop out of the cart while Fjord urges the horse to move faster. Molly’s hand latched onto my arm and pulled me closer to his side as we began to jog towards the town, flickers of orange beginning to peek through the darkness.

        As we get closer, I can see the fire more clearly as it begins to consume a handful of buildings, the flames flickering higher in the now dark sky. At least it was night, I could be more helpful now. In the distance, a high-pitched screech rips through the air, but between the distance and the faint echoes of shouting in my head and floating across the field, the sound was hard to pinpoint. Vaguely, it registered in my mind that the screech was not a sound I had ever heard another person make before, but the thought barley brushed my mind before it too was consumed by the flames swallowing the town. As we approach the western side of the town, what seems like hundreds of people are spilling out into the field we came from. The smell of smoke is so close now I feel like I can’t breathe without it permeating my senses and scrambling my mind. Small fires in inns, campfires, wood stoves, those smells I can handle - it’s the faint traces of acidic wood burning, the tang of hair and flesh as they are devoured, that makes my skin prickle uncomfortably and my chest clench.  

        Suddenly I’ve lost Molly, his hand wrenched from my arm, and I’m lost in a sea of bodies. The moment his touch disappears it is as if I am a child again, surrounded by heat and fear and smoke. There are too many people - I can’t spot Caleb or Jester or Beau or Nott, but I can still see Fjord atop the wagon as he pushes through the villagers, so I try to make my way towards him. Except, I can’t. Not without Molly and Caleb safe. Not without making sure Jester was still with Beau and that Nott wasn't being crushed underfoot. In that moment of indecision, I lose Fjord and it’s just me trying to push through the people trying to escape. Jaw clenched, I force myself forward through the crowd, scanning for flashes of blue and purple. If I can find Jester, Beau will not be far, and if I can find Molly, he will help me search for the others. If I can find them I won’t be alone.  

        As the crowd begins to thin, just as I am beginning to realize that I’ve truly lost them, I realize what set the fire. Hunched over a body, tearing chunks of flesh from its neck, is a gnoll. Seven feet tall, scrawny with dog-like legs, and covered in spotted fur and blood, it howls into the night with the same screech that had danced on the wind only a moment before. Satisfied the body had no chance of recovery, the gnoll snatched it up and scampered back into the town. A few Crown’s Guard appeared briefly, shouting to each other about trying to find where the gnolls were coming from before turning to the northern side of the town. Fires may be a weak point, but monsters - gnolls - those I could deal with. I could only beg the Voice and shadows to keep Molly safe while I did my job.

        Pushing into the town itself, I can see some of the buildings have been locked shut. The people within their walls were frantically boarding the windows and hunkering down for the duration of whatever assault this was. Following the gnoll that had picked up the corpse at the edge of where the buildings gave way to farm fields, I found myself near the heart of the town. The smoke is billowing in earnest now, carrying embers and ash as it consumes the sky and blocks the moons and stars.

_In the muffled air, the hauntingly sweet spice of the fire coated my scorched tongue and filled my ears with its unrelenting roar and clouded my eyes until they were dry and scratchy. The bitter woodsmoke curled around me, flooding my nose and my lungs._

        A small scream makes its way past the clouded memory, desperate and pained. Just feet away, a halfling girl struggled in the grasp of another gnoll as it snapped at her neck, it’s bloodstained teeth just barely managing to skim her throat. A quick casting of Magic Missile and the gnoll is ripped apart, the halfling girl dropping to the dirt, scared but otherwise unharmed.

        “Are you alright? Where are your parents,” I ask, pulling the child to her feet and wiping ash from her face.  

        “They pushed me outta the window,” she sniffles, pointing to one of the burning buildings. “Told me teh run an’ find s’mplace teh hide.”

        Kill the gnolls or save the people. Killing the gnolls would save people in the long run, but to lose one’s parents at such a young age could destroy the child’s life.  

        Run into the fire or stay in the open? If I stayed out of buildings, I could find Molly and the rest, whereas if I ran into that building to save this child’s parents I would be alone with two, possibly injured people. Maybe more.

        If the others were in the town, they would fight gnolls. They were ready to fight before we even knew the situation. What they would not do would be running into buildings that could collapse at any second and crush them.  

        Jumped out a window. Pushed out a window. Parentless. Parents with the potential to be saved.

_Against the starlight sky, the fire danced and grew and consumed, devouring the night in its undiscerning maw but leaving me only partially disfigured, taunting me and mounting the wail within me as it tore free from my raw throat leaving my lungs heavy and bloody and horribly empty. Everything was so empty. I could only watch as my childhood home - because as unwelcome as it had been at times, it was still my home - blackened and crumbled into char and cinder, sparking and crackling and howling right along with me. Within the skeletal frame, my very essence screamed and wept as the future I could have salvaged, could have stitched back together from shreds of anger and pain and resentment, was wrenched from my grip._

        “Run, there’s a building that way,” I pointed wildly to where I had come from, “that is not yet fully barricaded. Bang on the door and raise hell until they let you in. I’ll get your parents.” The child nodded and scampered off down the street and I forced myself to sprint into the building she had pointed to.

        Luckily, the building had not been fully engulfed in flames. The interior was sweltering hot and touching most anything that wasn’t already on fire would be sure to leave a nasty burn. Several beams and shelves had fallen, making navigating what had once been a shop difficult, but it was night and even with the fire roaring around me, my mind and body numbing more with every step I took, the shadows clung to my limbs and filled my lungs making moving and breathing just a tad bit easier. Shouting to whoever was still within the building did nothing, the roar of the fire far too powerful to let my voice carry, but I didn’t have to check the downstairs rooms, there was enough of a path that a halfling could have made it out of the building before now. Carefully picking my way up the staircase, I made my way to the second floor to be met with a barricade of flame. This would explain throwing their child from the window.

        Thankfully, the barricade seemed to be mostly burning wood so with a little effort I was able to break it apart with my hand axe. The fire was worse here, as was the smoke. My eyes burned from being assaulted with heat and ash despite the shadows and I could feel my mind beginning to slip away, screams that weren't there were echoing in my head and I could see my mother’s beautiful chestnut hair aflame. She lay beneath every beam, my father, his face melted from his skull and his skin bubbling slunk through the leaping flames. But they weren’t really there, they had been burned to ash long ago, not even leaving behind scorched bones to bury.

        I found them in the very back, passed out likely from the intense heat and breathing the smoke. Three halflings, two humans, and four gnomes, all alive. Clearing the glass from the nearest window, I cast Feather Fall on the halflings and two humans as I pushed them out to the street below. Once they had landed, I did the same for the gnomes and myself, biting back a scream as I threw myself from the window not unlike I had done sixteen years ago. Out of the building, not safe but at least in the open with a little more air to breathe, I dragged the unconscious bodies down the street, my muscles screaming in protest. I hadn’t noticed the fire had scorched my exposed skin, and in the open air, I shivered despite the warmth of the fires still around me. Fire resistance could only do so much.

        Nearby, familiar shouting drew my attention. Framed by flames, Mollymauk was locked in battle with a gnoll, one sword stuck in its shoulder and the other being held back by a shield. Another gnoll was at his back, pulling back its sword to strike him while he was distracted. With a whispered plea to the Voice, two rays of sickly green light shot at the gnolls, one easily finding its target in the gnoll striking at Molly’s back, and the other just barely hitting the gnoll he was actively locked in combat with. Both gnolls fell, likely having already taken damage, and Molly looked around wildly before spotting me still hunched over one of the bodies.

        “Fayde!” Molly kicked aside the gnoll’s body and ran towards me, falling to his knees at my side and clutching my face in his hands. “Where have you been? Are you alright? You’re crying, darling, Ocelle, you’re crying.” His voice is far away despite his physical closeness and I struggle to process his words. Still, one makes my spine tingle with a haunting familiarity as it echoes through the chasm of my mind.  

        “Da war ein Kind ... ihre Eltern, sie steckten drin. Ich konnte sie dort nicht sterben lassen. Nicht im Feuer. Nicht wie meine,” I shivered, my stomach rolling in revulsion from the cloying smoke and acrid memories. “Nicht im Feuer. Caleb, wo ist Caleb?” I croaked, the words sticking in my throat.

        “Deep breaths, darling,” Molly crooned, using his sleeve to wipe my face clean. “Caleb is fine, he’s with Nott fighting gnolls.” Fighting gnolls surrounded by fire seemed like a very good example of Caleb not being fine, but I knew my brother, knew what he was capable of when necessary. It may not be the ideal situation, but it was better than many of the alternatives.

        Still shaking, my breathing ragged, I picked up my axe from where it had fallen when I jumped out the window. I was not doing well, the brief stint into the burning shop dredging up memories I could not easily brush aside, but it was not my job to hide. No, my job was to fight tooth and nail to protect this town and kill every last gnoll I could. My job was to protect my brother as long as I was with him regardless of whether or not either of us liked it.

        “How many are left?”

        “Not many, most of them are gone - ran away. You killed the two I was dealing with just now. But it doesn’t matter, you're not getting involved in that, not with how badly you’re shaking.”

        “I can’t not fight, Molly,” I grimaced, shakily standing and stumbling towards the square where I could hear the familiar sounds of battle. When I reached the mouth of the alley, however, and I realized I couldn’t feel Molly at my side, I turned and called, “come on, join the fun, my dear!” The tiefling violently flinched at the forced cheeriness as I produced the best smile I could, lobbing my axe at a gnoll I was just able to make out through the smoke. The beast barely had time to wail in pain as my axe embedded itself in its shoulder before I sent a Freezing Ray to deliver the killing blow, the body overtaken with ice shards. Molly shook his head but joined me as I shuffled into the square, using the buildings as support and doing my best to not cry out at the pain from the heat all around me.

        There wasn’t much in the square now beyond bodies - gnoll, citizen, and Crown’s Guard alike. I could finally see the others as well. Caleb and Fjord were finishing off the gnolls they were engaged with, Jester was standing proud, fists on her hips, glaring down at gnoll at her feet, a giant, spectral lollypop embedded in its torso. Nott, being small and used to hiding everywhere we went, took a moment to spot, but when I found her amongst the carnage she was frantically dashing after a cart, Beau not far behind. With the firelight as intense as it was, I had trouble calling the shadows to help me as I pushed off the wall and went to follow pair wherever they were rushing off to, but Molly almost instantly hooked his shoulder beneath my arm and helped me stumble forward. We were much slower hobbling along together, but the firm grip Molly had on my side told me he wouldn’t let me walk on my own.

        It wasn’t too long before I could make out why Nott and Beau were running after the cart. Emerging from the other side streets, scorched and covered in soot, were ten more gnolls. On their backs, they carried large sacks and dragged corpses after them. I had never seen such a large scale raid so well organized by usually argumentative and - at best - moderately intelligent creatures.

        “Nott, get back here! Just let them go!” Up until Fjord had yelled after Nott, the gnolls in and around the cart hadn’t seen us, but that has changed now, the biggest of the bunch pulling out a longbow and aiming at Nott who was closest to the cart. In an instant, the goblin girl was falling back from the force of the arrow, her unconscious body landing in the dirt and ash. And then the bow was pointed at me. Just as the gnoll releases his next arrow, Molly twists us around, the arrow sinking into the juncture of his neck and shoulder instead of my neck. Still, Molly had been bleeding badly enough that he sank to his knees, his eyes dimming.  

        “Shit, Jester, a little help over here,” I yell, easing Molly onto his back and yanking out the arrow. “Molly and Nott are out.”

        It took a moment, but Jester came jogging over and brushed her fingers across Molly’s forehead, green mist trailing after her as she rushed over to Nott and scooping her into her lap and healing her as well. Almost instantly, Molly and Nott woke up, coughing slightly and wincing in pain. I was tired enough, and still shaky, so I was more than willing to stay sitting in the dirt and support Molly as he sat up and looked to Nott.

        “What were you thinking,” he hissed.

        “I was just going to follow them from afar,” Nott sighs. “I forgot they had bows and arrows.”

        “That’s literally what - Nott, they all had bows! They’ve been shooting at us since we got here!”

        “Hey, it could have been a lot worse,” I soothe. “Nott’s idea was good, she just didn’t have enough cover.” I sigh and start to stand, glaring up at the smoke still billowing into the sky. “We need to help with the fires-”

        “Woah, no you don’t,” Nott frowns, crawling out of Jester’s lap and pulling me back down to the ground. “You look like shit, where were you?”

        “Yeah,” Beau huffed, “we turned around and you’d disappeared.”

        “I got separated as the villagers were running away and couldn’t see anyone so I headed further into the town because that’s what I was sure you were doing. I was making my way to the square, but there was this, this kid. Her parents were trapped in one of the buildings that were on fire so I ran in and pulled them out. I’m fine, really, Nott, it’s probably just the heat.” Nott looked like she didn’t quite believe me, and Molly looked like he definitely didn’t believe me, but neither of them said anything. Even Jester was giving me a skeptical look, but she must have had other things to do since she scampered off and started going from gnoll corpse to gnoll corpse. Once I was sure I could stand and walk on my own, I joined Beau and Fjord as they helped the Crown’s Guard - those that were still living and well enough - put out the fires.  

        Eventually, once most of the fires were put out, the villagers began to filter back into Alfield. Those that had barricaded themselves in buildings began to step into the streets and take in the damage. Cries echoed in the night, grief, anger, and fear replacing the smoke.

        “Fayde!” I set down the bucket of sand I was carrying and walked over to where Molly was waving me over. The group looked as tired and sore as I felt, as did the half-elf Crown’s Guard they were talking to. “Fayde was helping us, she’s part of our party. We got separated coming in and she was pulling people out of one of the buildings,” Molly explained.

        The half-elf nodded, scrubbing at their face in a vain attempt to clear away some of the blood and ash. “There aren’t many who would immediately jump into the fray as you did. I would say that we would have lost many more, and perhaps all of my men had you all not been here, so thank you.”  

        “Of course,” Jester beamed, hands full of what looked like severed gnoll ears. “We’re just happy to help! Fayde actually smelled the smoke before we even got here, so really if it wasn’t for her then we might not have gotten here as soon as we did.”

        “You’ve got a good nose,” the half-elf nodded, looking me over. “I am Watchmaster Bryce-”

        “Bryce? Wow, I didn’t recognize you under all that ash! Fuck, you doing ok, buddy?”

        “Aw, shit, Widogast!” Bryce grinned and flung their arms around me. “Gods, I haven’t seen you in a while! I should have known this group was with you, they were so willing to get involved in this mess.”

        “So, you two...know each other?” Caleb was also clutching several severed ears, but he seemed far more interested in my knowing Bryce than what he was holding.

        “Only since they were a perky new recruit in Zedash,” I grinned. “I used to give them so much shit back home. Bryce, this is my older brother Caleb, and his friend Nott,” Nott nodded but stayed half-hidden behind Caleb. “The scrawny looking half-orc is Fjord,” Fjord scowled, but shook Bryce’s hand, “the human in blue is Beauregard, but we just call her Beau,” Beau nodded, her arms crossed, “the adorable blue tiefling is Jester,” Jester beamed and went to wave before remembering she was holding several gnoll ears, “and this purple bugger is Mollymauk, Molly to his friends. Guys, this is my friend Bryce Feelid, this is their fourth year in Alfield.”

        “Well, I’m glad to meet a friend of Fayde’s,” Fjord smiled, “but if you don’t mind me askin’, what were those creatures? Have you encountered them before?”

        “Those were gnolls,” I supplied. “Nasty buggers when they’re hungry.”

        “They’re always hungry,” Bryce sighed. “We’ve encountered them before, yes, in smaller hunting packs, maybe a half-dozen at a time, usually on the outskirts. They don’t come to civilization like this, though. It’s generally too dangerous for them, they like to travel in smaller numbers. What the fuck are they after?”

        “Food,” grunted Beau. “they were hauling people onto a cart they stole.”

        “Did you notice they had some undead gnolls with them,” Jester frowned. “Is that normal?”

        “I’ve maybe crossed one or two as part of the roving packs, it’s not terribly uncommon,” Bryce shrugged.

        “What turns them like that,” Molly asked, his tail latching onto my ankle and his arms snaking around my waist, firmly holding me to him while he rested his chin on my shoulder. “Is there something in the water?”

        “I have no idea,” Bryce admits. “I don’t know the ins and outs of their creepy bestial lifestyle. I mean, what–” they sit down for a second, leaning against the wall, thinking and scratching at their chin. “Word came of a small hunting party of these beasts spotted to the south, so we sent a small troupe to slay them naught but two hours before they struck here. We had sent more than half of our men’s strength to go and deal with them, so we were unprepared and, at the time, unguarded for the most part. It can’t be a coincidence that they caught us at half strength. They must be desperate to assault head-on like this. There’s plenty of small game in the surrounding wood and they’re known to be provoked to violence, but I’ve only heard of gnolls picking off the outlying folk, those that wander too far from the fields.”

        “I’ve known them to hit smaller villages, but just the outer homes that have a smaller chance of getting help,” I say, leaning into Molly and trying to smell his sandalwood incense through the smoke.  

        “Do they eat bodies? Because Beau said they were taking bodies,” Nott said, lifting her mask just enough to take a swig from her flask.

        “They eat what flesh they can get a hold of, Nott,” I explained.

        “Normally, that is what they do, yes, but we went through a number of the buildings and they’ve ransacked two of the inns. They completely took the entire butcher’s stock. They’ve carved the city of whatever meats, fresh or dried, we had.”

        “That’s too much meat,” Jester frowned. “What are they feeding?”

        “Or, and think about this, what’s makn' ‘em so hungry,” Fjord suggested. “My real concern is that they’ll return. We’ve fended ‘em off for now, but could come back.”

        “Especially if they’re as desperate as you say they are,” Beau grunted.

        “I’ve sent three of our scouts to try and find out where they went, track wherever they’re taking their spoils. Reports came in that most of the bodies they took might not be dead, and while I am concerned they might come back, this is  _my_  biggest concern. We have to do our best to at least recover any survivors, wipe out what remains, and prevent this from ever happening again.”

        “Have you heard local farmers complaining about them stealing livestock? Missing livestock,” Beau asked.

        “I’m going to look into that, actually,” Bryce sighed. “I’m sorry, I’m still gathering my thoughts. Fayde, I know you’re probably tired and I wouldn’t blame you if you needed to get some sleep, but would you be able to help? There's just so much I need to do and this  _is_  sort of what you do and -”

        “Of course I will, Bryce. I’ll go and start talking to some of the farmers, see if anyone’s missing any livestock or if they saw anything odd the past few days. I’ll do a perimeter run before I come find you, maybe the gnolls left some indication of how they got in so quickly.” I turned to the group and rested my hands on Molly’s. “You all should find somewhere to bunk for the night. I’m sure Bryce can point you somewhere that hasn’t been too damaged.”

        “You want to go by yourself,” Jester asked. “Fayde that’s su-uper dangerous and you don’t look good at all.” Molly hummed in agreement, the vibration of it sinking through my clothes and into my bones.

        “I’ll be fine, Jess, I promise. You just worry about getting sleep and rebuilding your magic reserve.” Jester reluctantly nodded and turned to Bryce to start talking about payment of some sort. Molly still had a firm hold on me preventing me from leaving so I turned my head a little and whispered in Infernal,  _“I promise I will be alright.”_

         _“I just worry,”_  the tiefling grumbled.  

         _“I know, but I won’t be longer than an hour or so. Maybe two if people are talking. Would, would you, wherever you end up staying, you know, mind me staying with you? I would rather not bunk with my brother.”_

         _“Dear, of course, you can stay with me,”_  Molly muttered.  _"I’ll hang something on the door so you’ll know which room is mine. We might have to bunk up with Fjord, but I’ll do what I can to make sure we aren’t with your brother. I’ll even wait up for you.”_

        The whole process took a little over an hour. None of the farmers were missing livestock or had seen anything suspicious in the past few weeks, but a few remembered me traveling through town and lending a hand when it was needed so they wanted to chat a little and fill me in on some of the gossip and goings-on since I had last visited. I didn’t necessarily need that sort of information, but I knew it would help them feel a little more normal so I let the villagers talk for a while before removing myself and going to the next farm. As far as the farmers were concerned, the attack was completely unexpected. Doing a perimeter run didn’t help much either, but when I went to report to Bryce, they had gotten word from some of the other Crown’s Guard of where they suspected the gnolls to have disappeared to. I refused Bryce’s offer to pay me for the night, knowing I would be in Zedash soon enough and not wanting to take money from an already wounded town, especially after they told me they were putting my group up in the Feed and Mead tavern.

        Crute, the salty bastard, offered a grunt when I finally stumbled in and slid me a shot of my usual poison. The deep sea-teal green liquid threatening to spill over the edge of the glass. I always stayed here when I was in town, preferring it to the Candle Glow Inn which felt too cushy when I was traveling and didn’t have the comforting scent of stale liquor and near-constant commotion in the main hall. Besides, Crute didn’t mind me wandering in bloody and cranky after a bad hunt. The dwarf was gruff on a good day, but he made good company for drinking. The only downside was that I knew it meant we would all be sleeping together.

        True to his word, Molly had left a small, silken rope dangling from one of the two doors upstairs, and was waiting up for me. Since there were only four beds, he had set up a semi cozy corner for us as far from Caleb as he could get in the small room. Molly didn’t say anything as I crawled into the little nest, but he didn’t need to. The weight of his head against my stomach was comforting as was the gentle heat from his arms and tail he had wrapped around me once again. Even with Beau and Fjords gods-awful snoring, I managed to find a peaceful sleep, though I am convinced it had something to do with the small stick of incense Molly had burning near our nest and Trogal’s quiet watch from his perch on my makeshift pillow.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not dead! Collage got funky and summer got hella weird but I am back! Updates will be slower that I would like as I am in my last semester for my AA and I cannot fuck this up, but I think I've got my writing mojo back. Also, I'm sorry about the fuckin' wave of updates y'all might have had to endure, I was going back and fixing formatting because I realized I hadn't.


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